THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 



BY 

FRANCIS B. PEARSON 

SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 
OF OHIO 

AUTHOR OF "THE EVOLUTION OF THE TEACHER 
"THE HIGH SCHOOL PROBLEM" 
"REVERIES OF A SCHOOLMASTER" 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1917 

All rights reserved 



■-,T4£ 



COPYEIGHT, 1917, 

By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published February, 1917. 




J. 8. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. 
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. 

©CI.A455483 






PREFACE 

The thoughtful observer must have noted in the 
recent past many indications of an awakened in- 
terest both in the concept of education and in school 
procedure on the part of school officials, teachers, 
and the public. Educators have been developing 
pedagogical principles that strike their roots deep 
into the philosophy of life, and now their pro- 
nouncements are invading the consciousness of 
people of all ranks and causing them to realize 
more and more that the school process is an integral 
part of the life process and not something detached 
from life. 

The following pages constitute an attempt to 
interpret some of the school processes in terms of 
life processes, and to suggest ways in which these 
processes may be made identical. 

It is hoped that teachers who may read these 
pages may find running through them a strand of 



vi PREFACE 

optimism that will give them increased faith in their 
own powers, a larger hope for the future of the 
school, and an access of zeal to press valiantly for- 
ward in their efforts to excel themselves. 

F. B. P. 

Columbus, Ohio, 

January, 1917. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



CHATTER PAGB 

I. Teaching School 1 

II. The Teacher 9 

III. The Child 18 

IV. The Child of the Future 30 

V. The Teacher-Politician 40 

VI. Sublime Chaos 52 

VII. Democracy 65 

VEIL Patriotism 77 

IX. Work and Life 91 

X. Words and their Content 100 

XL Complete Living 112 

XII. The Time Element 127 

XIII. The Artist Teacher 143 

XIV. The Teacher as an Ideal 159 

XV. The Socialized Recitation 176 

XVI. Agriculture 192 

XVII. The School and the Community .... 206 

XVIII. Poetry and Life 222 

XIX. A Sense of Humor 231 

XX. The Element of Human Interest .... 244 

XXI. Behavior 259 

XXII. Bond and Free 275 

XXIII. Examinations 288 

XXIV. World-Building 303 

XXV. A Typical Vitalized School 317 



THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 
CHAPTER I 

TEACHING SCHOOL 

Life and living compared. — There is a wide dif- 
ference between school-teaching and teaching school. 
The question " Is she a school-teacher? " means one 
thing; but the question " Can she teach school? " 
means quite another. School-teaching may be liv- 
ing; but teaching school is life. And any one who 
has a definition of life can readily find a definition 
for teaching school. Much of the criticism of the 
work of the schools emanates from sources that have 
a restricted concept of life. The artisan who defines 
life in terms of his own trade is impatient with much 
that the school is trying to do. He would have the 
scope of the school narrowed to his concept of life. 
If art and literature are beyond the limits of his con- 
cept, he can see no warrant for their presence in the 
school. The work of the schools cannot be standard- 
ized until life itself is standardized, and that is neither 



2 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

possible nor desirable. The glory of life is that it 
does not have fixity, that it is ever crescent. 

Teaching defined. — Teaching school may be de- 
fined, therefore, as the process of interpreting life 
by the laboratory method. The teacher's work is 
to open the gates of life for the pupils. But, before 
these gates can be opened, the teacher must know 
what and where they are. This view of the teacher's 
work is neither fanciful nor fantastic ; quite the con- 
trary. Life is the common heritage of people young 
and old, and the school should be so organized and 
administered as to teach people how to use this heri- 
tage to the best advantage both for themselves and 
for others. If a child should be absent from school 
altogether, or if he should be incarcerated in prison 
from his sixth to his eighteenth year, he would still 
have life. But, if he is in school during those twelve 
years, he is supposed to have life that is of better 
quality and more abundant. Life is not measured 
by years, but by its own intensity and scope. It has 
often been said that some people have more life in 
threescore and ten years than Methuselah had in 
his more than nine hundred years. 

Life measured by intensity. — This statement is 
not demonstrable, of course, but it serves to make 



TEACHING SCHOOL 3 

evident the fact that some people have more of life 
in a given time than others in the same time. In 
this sense, life may be measured by the number of 
reactions to objectives. These reactions may be in- 
creased by training. Two persons, in passing a 
shop-window, may not see the same objects ; or one 
may see twice as many as the other, according to 
their ability to react. The man who was locked in 
a vault at the cemetery by accident, and was not 
discovered for an hour, thought he had spent four 
days in his imprisonment. He had really lived four 
days in a single hour by reason of the intensity of 
life during that hour. 

Illustrations. — In the case of dreams, we are told 
that years may be condensed into minutes, or even 
seconds, by reason of the rapidity of reactions. The 
rapidity and intensity of these reactions make them- 
selves manifest on the face of the dreamer. Beads 
of perspiration and facial contortions betoken in- 
tensity of feeling. In such an experience life is in- 
tense. If a mental or spiritual cyclometer could be 
used in such a case, it would make a high record of 
speed. Life sometimes touches bottom, and some- 
times scales the heights. But the distance between 
these extremes varies greatly in different persons. 



4 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The life of one may have but a single octave ; of the 
other, eight, or a hundred, or a thousand. The life 
of Job is an apt illustration. No one has been able 
to sound the depths of his suffering, nor has any one 
been able to measure the heights of his exaltation. 
We may not readily compute the octaves in such a 
life as his. 

The complexity of life. — It is not easy to think 
life, much less define it. The elements are so numer- 
ous as to baffle and bewilder the mind. It looks 
out at one from so many corners that it seems 
Argus-eyed. At one moment we see it on the Stock 
Exchange where men struggle and strive in a mad 
frenzy of competition ; at another, in a quiet home, 
where a mother soothes her baby to sleep, where 
there is no competition but, rather, a sublime 
monopoly. Again, it manifests itself in the clanking 
of machinery where men are tunneling the moun- 
tain or constructing a canal to unite oceans; or, 
again, in the laboratory where the microscope is 
revealing the form of the snow crystal. One man 
is watching the movements of the heavenly bodies 
as they file by his telescope, while another writes a 
proclamation that makes free a race of people. 
Another man is leading an army into battle, while 



TEACHING SCHOOL 5 

some Doctor MacClure is breasting the storm in 
the darkness as he goes forth on his mission of mercy. 

Manifestations of life. — These manifestations of 
life men call trade, commerce, history, mathemat- 
ics, science, nature, and philanthropy. And men 
write these words in books, and other men write 
other books trying to explain their meaning. Then, 
still others divide and subdivide, and science be- 
comes the sciences, and mathematics becomes 
arithmetic, and algebra, and geometry, and trigo- 
nometry, and calculus, and astronomy. Here 
mathematics and science seem to merge. And, in 
time, history and geography come together, and 
sometimes strive for precedence. 

Thus, books accumulate into libraries and so add 
another to the many elements of life. Then maga- 
zines are written to explain the books and their 
authors. The motive behind the book is analyzed 
in an effort to discover the workings of the author's 
mind and heart. In these revelations we sometimes 
hear the rippling of the brook, and sometimes the 
moan of the sea ; sometimes the cooing of the dove, 
and sometimes the scream of the eagle ; sometimes 
the bleating of the lamb, and sometimes the roaring 
of the lion. In them we see the moonbeams that 



6 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

play among the flowers and the lightning that rends 
the forest; the blossoms that filter from the trees 
and the avalanche that carries destruction; the 
rain that fructifies the earth and the hurricane that 
destroys. 

Life in literature. — Back of these sights and 
sounds we discover men — Cicero, Demosthenes, 
Homer, Isaiah, Shakespeare, Milton, Dante. We 
trace the thoughts and emotions of these men and 
find literature. And in literature, again, we come 
upon another manifestation of life. Literature is 
what it is because these men were what they were. 
They saw and felt life to be large and so wrote it 
down large; and because they wrote it thus, what 
they wrote endures. They stood upon the heights 
and saw the struggles of man with himself, with 
other men, and with nature. This panorama gener- 
ated thoughts and feelings in them, and these they 
could not but portray. And so literature and life 
are identical and not coordinates, as some would 
have us think. 

Life as subject matter in teaching. — In teaching 
school, therefore, the subject matter with which 
we have to do is life — nothing more and nothing 
less. We may call it history, or mathematics, or 



TEACHING SCHOOL 7 

literature, or psychology, — but it still remains 
true that life is the real objective of all our activities. 
And, as has been already said, we are teaching life by 
the laboratory method. We are striving to interpret 
the thing in which we are immersed. We feel, 
and think, and aspire, and love, and enjoy. All 
these are life ; and from this life we are striving to 
extract strength that our feeling may be deeper, our 
thinking higher, our aspirations wider and more 
lofty, our love purer and nobler, and our own en- 
joyment greater. By absorbing the life that is all 
about us we strive to have more abundant and 
abounding life. 

The teacher's province. — Such is the province of 
one who essays the task of teaching school. School 
is life, as we have been told ; but, at the same time, 
it is a place and an occasion for teaching life. If we 
could detach history from life, it would cease to be 
history. If literature is not life, it is not literature ; 
and so with the sciences. These branches are but 
variants or branches of life, and all emanate from a 
common center. Whether we scan the heavens, 
penetrate the depths of the sea, pore over the pages 
of books, or look into the minds and hearts of men, 
we are striving after an interpretation of life. 



8 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Distinguish between a "school teacher" and a "man or 
woman who teaches school." 

2. Discuss the importance of the following agencies of the 
school in securing for children "life of a better quality and 
more abundant": play; revitalized curricula; vitalized 
teachers; medical inspection; social centers; moral instruc- 
tion. 

3. Discuss both from the standpoint of present practice 
and ideal educational principles: "More abundant life rather 
than knowledge is the chief end of instruction." 

4. What changes are necessary in school curricula and in 
the methods of school organization, instruction, and discipline, 
in order that the chief purpose of our schools, "more abundant 
life," may be realized? 

5. Justify the apparent length of the school day to teachers 
and pupils, as a means of determining the quality of the work 
of the school. 

6. Some teachers maintain that school is a preparation for 
life, while the author maintains that "school is life." Is this 
difference in the concept of the school a vital one ? 

7. How may this difference of concept affect the work of 
the teacher ? the attitude of the pupil ? 

8. What definition of education will best harmonize with 
the ideals of this chapter? 



CHAPTER II 

THE TEACHER 

Teachers contrasted. — The vitalized school is an 
expression of the vitalized teacher. In the hands 
of the teacher of another sort, the vitalized school 
is impossible. Unless she can see in the multiplica- 
tion table the power that throws the bridge across 
the river, that builds pyramids, that constructs 
railways, that sends ships across the ocean, that 
tunnels mountains and navigates the air, this table 
becomes a stupid thing, a dead thing, and an incu- 
bus upon the spirits of her pupils. To such a teacher 
mathematics is a lifeless thing, without hope or 
potency, the school is a mere convenience for the 
earning of a livelihood, the work is the drudgery 
of bondage, and the children are little less than an 
impertinence. The vitalized teacher is different. 
To her the multiplication table pulsates with life. 
It stretches forth its beneficent hand to give em- 
ployment to a million workers, and food to a million 
homes. It pervades every mart of trade; it loads 

9 



10 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

trains and ships with the commerce of nations ; 
and it helps to amplify and ennoble civiliza- 
tion. 

Vitalized mathematics. — In this table she sees 
a prophecy of great achievements in engineering, 
architecture, transportation, and the myriad appli- 
cations of science. In brief, mathematics to her 
is vibrant with life both in its present uses and in its 
possibilities. She knows that it is a part of the 
texture of the daily life of every home as well as 
of national life. She knows that it pertains to indi- 
vidual, community, and national well-being. Know- 
ing this, she feels that it is quite worth while for 
herself and her pupils, both for the present and 
for the future. She feels that, if she would know 
life, she must know mathematics, because it is a 
part of life ; that, if she would teach life to her 
pupils, she must teach them mathematics as an 
integral part of life ; and that she must teach it in 
such a way that it will be as much a part of them- 
selves as their bodily organs. She wants them to 
know the mathematics as they know that the rain 
is falling or that the sun is shining, because the 
rain, the sunshine, and the mathematics are all 
elements of life. Her great aim is to have her 



THE TEACHER 11 

pupils experience the study just as they experience 
other phases of life. 

The teacher's attitude. — Such a teacher with 
such a conception of life and of her work finds 
teaching school the very reverse of drudgery. Each 
day is an exhilarating experience of life. Her pu- 
pils are a part of life to her. She enjoys life and, 
hence, enjoys them. They are her confederates 
in the fine game of life. The bigness and exuber- 
ance of her abundant life enfolds them all, and from 
the very atmosphere of her presence they absorb 
life. Their studies, under the influence of her magic, 
are as much a part of life to them as the air they 
breathe or the food they eat. No two days are 
alike in her school, for life to-day is larger than it 
was yesterday and so presents a new aspect. Her 
spirit carries over into their spirits the truths of 
the books, and these truths thus become inherent. 

College influences. — She teaches life, albeit 
through the medium of subjects and books, because 
she knows life. Her college work did not consist 
in the gathering together of many facts, but in 
accumulating experiences of life. Many of these 
experiences were acquired vicariously, but they 
were no less real on that account. Her generous 



12 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

nature was able to withstand the most assiduous 
efforts of some of her teachers to quench the flames 
of life that glowed in the pages of books, with the 
wet blanket of erudition. She was able to relive 
the thoughts and feelings of the authors whose books 
she studied and so make their experiences her own. 
She could reconstitute the emotional life of her 
authors and gain potency through the transfusion 
of spirit. Her books were living things, and she 
gleaned life from their pages. 

Reading and life. — She can teach reading be- 
cause she can read. Reading to her is an experi- 
ence in life. The words on the printed page are 
not meaningless hieroglyphics. They are the elec- 
tric wires which connect the soul of the author with 
her own, and through which the current is con- 
tinually passing. When she reads Dickens, Tiny 
Tim is never a mere boy with a crutch, but he is 
Tiny Tim, and, as such, neither men nor angels can 
supplant him on the printed page. She knows the 
touch of him and the voice of him. She laughs 
with him ; she cries with him ; she prays with 
him ; she lives with him. In her teaching she 
causes Tiny Tim to stand forth like a cameo to her 
pupils, with no rival and no peer. This she can do 



THE TEACHER 13 

because he is a part of her life. She has no occa- 
sion either to pose or to rhapsodize. Sincerity 
is its own explanation and justification. 

Power of understanding. — When she reads 
" Little Boy Blue " she can hear the sobbing of a 
heartbroken mother and thus, vicariously, comes 
to know the universality of death and sorrow. But 
she finds faith and hope in the poem, also, and so can 
see the sunlight suffusing the clouds of the mother's 
grief. Thus she enters into the feeling of mother- 
hood and so shares the life of all the mothers whose 
children are her pupils. In every page she reads 
she crosses anew the threshold of life and gains a 
knowledge of its joys, its sorrows, its triumphs, or 
its defeats. In short, she reads with the spirit and 
not merely with the mind, and thus catches the 
spiritual meaning of what she reads. She can feel as 
well as think and so can emotionalize the printed page. 
Nature has endowed her with a sensory foundation 
that reacts to the emotional situations that the 
author produces. Thus she understands, and that 
is the prime desideratum in reading. And because 
she understands, she can interpret, and cause her 
pupils to understand. Thus they receive another 
endowment of life. 



14 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Books as exponents of life. — She has time for 
reading as she has time for eating and drinking, 
and for the same reason. To her they are all co- 
ordinate elements of life. She eats, and sleeps, 
and reads because she is alive ; and she is more alive 
because she eats, and sleeps, and reads. She taps 
the sources of spiritual refreshment, without parade, 
and rejoices in the consequent enrichment of her 
life. She does not smite the rock, but speaks to it, 
and smiles upon it, and the waters gush forth. She 
descends into Hades with Dante, and ascends Sinai 
with Moses, and is refreshed and strengthened by 
her journeys. She sits enrapt as Shakespeare turns 
the kaleidoscope of life for her, or stands enthralled 
by Victor Hugo's picture of the human soul. Her 
sentient spirit is ignited by the fires of genius that 
glow between the covers of the book, and her fine 
enthusiasm carries the divine conflagration over 
into the spirits of her pupils. There is, therefore, 
no drag or listlessness in her class in reading, be- 
cause, during this exercise, life is as buoyant and 
spontaneous as it is upon the playground. 

The meaning of history. — In her teaching of 
history she invests all the characters with life, be- 
cause to her they are alive. And because they are 



THE TEACHER 15 

alive to her they are alive to her pupils. They are 
instinct with power, action, life. She rehabilitates 
the scenes in which they moved, and, therefore, 
they must be alive in order to perform their parts. 
They are all flesh and blood people with all the 
attributes of people. They are all actuated by 
motives and move along their appointed ways 
obedient to the laws of cause and effect. They are 
not named in the book to be learned and recited, 
but to be known. She causes her pupils to know 
them as they would come to know people in her 
home. Nor do they ever mistake one for the other 
or confuse their actions. They know them too 
well for that. These characters are made to stand 
wide apart, so that, being thus seen, they will ever 
after be known. History is not a directory of 
names, but groups of people going about their tasks. 
They hunger, and thirst, and love, and hate, and 
struggle with their environment as their descendants 
are doing to-day. 

Language and vitality. — When she is teaching a 
language, it is never less than a living language. 
In Latin the syntax is learned as a means, never an 
end. The big things in the study loom too large 
for that. The pupils become so eager to see what 



16 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Caesar will do next that they cannot afford the time 
to stare long at a mere ablative absolute. They 
are following the parade, and are not to be turned 
aside from their large purpose by minor matters. 
They are made to see and hear Cicero ; and Rome 
becomes a reality, with its Forum, its Senate, and 
its Mamertine. When Dido sears the soul of the 
faithless ^Eneas with her words of scorn, the girls 
applaud and the boys tremble. When Troy burns, 
there is a real fire, and Achates is as real as the 
man Friday. When the shipwrecked Trojans regale 
themselves with venison, it is no make-believe dinner, 
but a real one. Where such a teacher is, there can 
be no dead language, no dry bones of history, and 
no stagnation in the stream of life. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What suggestions are offered for the vitalization of 
mathematics? history? reading? language? 

2. In what ways is vitalization of subject matter related to 
its socialization ? 

3. How may motivation in teaching the multiplication table 
be assisted by vitalization? 

4. What is to be included in the term "read" in the sen- 
tence "She can teach reading because she can read"? 

5. Add to the author's list of children in literature whom 
the vitalized teacher may introduce as companions to her pupils. 



THE TEACHER 17 

6. Why is extended reading essential to success in teaching ? 

7. What works of Dante have you read? of Victor Hugo? 
of Shakespeare? How will the reading of such authors im- 
prove the teaching ability of elementary teachers ? 

8. What are the distinguishing characteristics of the vitalized 
teacher ? 



CHAPTER III 

THE CHILD 

The child as the center in school procedure. — 
The child is the center of school procedure in all its 
many ramifications. For the child the building is 
erected, the equipment is provided, the course of 
study is arranged and administered, and the teacher 
employed. The child is major, and all else is sub- 
sidiary. In the general scheme even the teacher 
takes secondary place. Teachers may come and 
go, but the child remains as the focus of all plans 
and purposes. The teacher is secured for the child, 
and not the child for the teacher. Taxpayers, 
boards of education, parents, and teachers are all 
active in the interests of the child ; and all school 
legislation, to be important, must have the child 
as its prime objective. Colleges of education and 
normal schools, in large numbers, are working at 
the educational problem in an effort to develop 
more effective methods of training the teachers of 
the child. A host of authors and publishers are 

18 



THE CHILD 19 

giving to the interest of the child the products of 
their skill. In every commonwealth may be found 
a large number of men and women whose time and 
energies are devoted to the work of the schools for 
the child. 

All children should have school privileges. — 
All these facts are freely admitted, wherever atten- 
tion is called to them, but we still have truant 
officers, and child labor laws. We admit the facts, 
but, in our practices, strive to circumvent their 
application. If the school is good for one child, 
it is good for all children. Indeed, the school is 
maintained on the assumption that all children 
will take advantage of and profit by its presence. 
If there were no schools, our civilization would 
surely decline. If school attendance should cease 
at the end of the fifth year, then we would have a 
fifth-year civilization. It rests, therefore, with the 
parents of the children, in large measure, whether 
we are to have an eighth-grade civilization, a high- 
school civilization, or a college civilization. 

Parental attitude. — Schools are administered on 
the assumption that every child is capable of and 
worthy of training, and that training the child will 
make for a better quality of civilization. The state 



20 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

regards the child as a liability during his childhood 
in the hope that he may be an asset in his manhood. 
In this hope time and money are devoted to his 
training. But, in the face of all this, there are 
parents, here and there, who still look upon their 
own children as assets and would use them for their 
own comfort or profit. They seem to think that 
their children are indebted to them for bringing 
them into the world and that their obligation to the 
children is canceled by meager provision of food, 
shelter, and clothing. They seem not to realize 
that " life is more than fruit or grain," and deny to 
their children the elements of life. 

The rights of the child. — All this is a sort of 
preface to the statement that the child comes into 
the world endowed with certain inherent rights 
that may not be abrogated. He has a right to life 
in its best and fullest sense, and no one has a right 
to abridge this measure of life, or to deprive him of 
anything that will contribute to such a life. He 
goes to the school as one of the sources of life, and 
any one who denies him this boon is doing violence 
to his right to have life. He does not go to school 
to study arithmetic, but studies arithmetic as one 
of the elements of life; and experience has demon- 



THE CHILD 21 

strated that arithmetic may be learned in the school 
more advantageously than elsewhere. He goes to 
school to have agreeable and profitable life. Each 
day is an integer of life and must be made to abound 
in life if it is to be accounted a success. 

Child life. — Again, the child has a right to the 
quality of life that is consistent with and congenial 
to his age. A seven-year-old should be a seven- 
year-old, in his thinking, in his activities, in his 
amusements, and in his feeling. We should never 
ask or want him to " put away childish things " at 
this age, for these childish things are a proof of his 
normality and good health. His buoyant life and 
good health may prove disastrous to the furniture 
in his home, but far better marred furniture than 
marred childhood. If, at this age, he should become 
as quiet and sedate as his father, his parents and 
teacher would have cause for alarm. It is the high 
privilege of the parent and the teacher to direct 
his activities, but not to abridge or interdict them. 
If the teacher would reduce him to inaction and 
silence, she may well reflect that if he were an im- 
becile he would be quiet. He will not pass this way 
again ; and if he is ever to have the sort of life that 
is in harmony with his age, he must have it now. 



22 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Childhood curtailed. — He has a right, also, to 
the full measure of childhood. This period is rela- 
tively short, and any curtailment does violence to 
his physiological and psychological nature. All 
the years of his childhood are necessary for a proper 
balancing of his physical and mental powers, that 
they may do their appointed work in after years. 
Entire volumes have been devoted to this subject, 
but, in spite of these volumes, some mothers still 
try to hurry their daughters into the duties and 
responsibilities of adult life. One such mother went 
to the high school to get the books of her fifteen- 
year-old daughter and, upon being asked why the 
daughter was leaving school, replied, " Oh, she's 
keeping company now." That daughter will never 
be the hardy plant in civilization that she ought 
to be, because she was reared in a hothouse atmos- 
phere. That mother had no right to cripple the 
life of her child by thwarting nature's decrees. 

Detrimental effects. — The pity of it all is that 
the child is at the mercy of the parent, or of the 
teacher, as the case may be. We become so eager 
to have " old heads on young shoulders " that we 
begrudge the child the years that are necessary for 
the shoulders to attain that maturity of strength 



THE CHILD 23 

that is needful for supporting the "old heads." 
Then ensues a lack of balance, and, were all children 
thus denied their right to the full period of youth, 
we should have a distorted civilization. Dickens 
inveighs against this curtailment of youth prodi- 
giously, and the marvel is that we have failed to learn 
the lesson from his pages. We need not have re- 
course to Victor Hugo to know the life of little 
Cosette, for we can see her prototype by merely 
looking about us. 

The child's right to the best. — As the child has 
a right to life in its fullness, so he has a right to all 
the agencies that can promote this type of life. 
If he meets with an accident he has a right to the 
best surgical skill that can be secured, and this 
right we readily concede ; and equally he has a 
right to the best teacher that money will secure. 
If he has a teacher that is less than the best, the 
time thus lost can never be restored to him. A 
lady who had an unskillful teacher in her first year 
in the high school now avers that he maimed her 
for life in that particular study. Life is such a 
delicate affair that it demands expert handling. 
If we hope to have the child attain his right to be 
an intelligent cooperating agent in promoting life in 



24 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

society, then no price is too great to pay for the 
expert teaching which will nurture the sort of life 
in him that will make him effective. 

The child's native tendencies. — Then, again, 
the child has a right to the exercise of the native 
tendencies with which he is endowed. In fact, 
these tendencies should be the working capital of 
the teacher, the starting points in her teaching. 
There was a time when the teacher punished the 
child who was caught drawing pictures on his slate. 
Happily that sort of barbarity disappeared, in the 
main, along with the slate. The vitalized teacher 
rejoices in the pictures that the child draws and 
turns this tendency to good account. Through 
this inclination to draw she finds the real child and 
so, as the psychologists direct, she begins where the 
child is and sets about attaching to this native 
tendency the work in nature study, geography, or 
history. When she discovers a constructive tend- 
ency in the child, she at once uses this in shifting 
from analytic to synthetic exercises in the school 
order. If he enjoys making things, he will be glad 
of an opportunity to make devices, or problems, or 
maps. 

The play instinct. — She makes large use, also, 



THE CHILD 25 

of the play instinct that is one of his native tenden- 
cies. This instinct is constantly reaching out for 
objects of play. The teacher is quick to note the 
child's quest for objects and deftly substitutes some 
phase of school work for marbles, balls, or dolls, 
and his playing proceeds apace without abatement 
of zest. The vitalized teacher knows how to attach 
the arithmetic to this play instinct and make it a 
fascinating game. During the games of arithmetic, 
geography, history, or spelling, life is at high tide 
in her school and the work is thorough in conse- 
quence. Work is relieved of the onus of drudgery 
whenever it appears in the guise of a game, and the 
teacher who has skill in attaching school studies 
to the play instinct of the child will make her school 
effective as well as a delight to herself and her 
pupils. In such a plan there is neither place nor 
occasion for coercion. 

Self-expression. — Another right of the child 
is the right to express himself. The desire for self- 
expression is fundamental in the human mind, as 
the study of archaeology abundantly proves. Since 
this is true, every school should be a school of expres- 
sion if the nature of the child is to have full recogni- 
tion. Without expression there is no impression, 



26 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

and without impression there is no education that 
has real value. The more and better expression 
in the school, therefore, the more and better the 
education in that school. In the vitalized school 
we shall find freedom of expression, and the absence 
of unreasoning repression. The child expresses 
himself by means of his hands, his feet, his face, his 
entire body, and his organs of speech, and his ex- 
pression through either of these means gives the 
teacher a knowledge of what to do. These expres- 
sions may not be what the teacher would wish, 
but the expression necessarily precedes intelligent 
teaching. 

Imagination. — These expressions may reveal a 
vivid imagination, but they are no less valuable 
as indices of the child's nature on that account. 
It is the very refinement of cruelty to try to inter- 
dict or stifle the child's imagination. But for the 
imagination of people in the past we should not 
have the rich treasures of mythology that so delight 
us all. Every child with imagination is construct- 
ing a mythology of his own, and from the gossamer 
threads of fancy is weaving a pattern of life that 
no parent or teacher should ever wish to forbid or 
destroy. Day by day, he sees visions and dreams 



THE CHILD 27 

dreams, and so builds for himself a world in which 
he finds delight and profit. In this world he is 
king, and only profane hands would dare attempt 
to dethrone him. 

The child's experiences. — His experiences, whether 
in the real world, or in this world of fancy, are 
his capital in the bank of life; and he has every 
right to invest this capital so as to achieve further 
increments of life. In this enterprise, the teacher 
is his counselor and guide, and, in order that she 
may exercise this function sympathetically and 
rationally, she must know the nature and extent 
of his capital. If he knows a bird, he may invest 
this knowledge so as to gain a knowledge of many 
birds, and so, in time, compass the entire realm of 
ornithology. If he knows a flower, from this known 
he may be so directed that he may become a master 
in the unknown field of botany. If he knows coal, 
this experience may be made the open sesame to 
the realms of geology. In short, all his experiences 
may be capitalized under the direction of a skillful 
teacher, and made to produce large dividends as 
an investment in life. 

Relation to school work. — Thus the school be- 
comes, for the child, a place of and for real life, and 



28 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

not a place detached from life. There he lives 
effectively, and joyously, because the teacher knows 
how to utilize his experiences and native dispositions 
for the enlargement of his life. He has no inclina- 
tion to become a deserter or a tenant, for life is 
agreeable there, and the school is made his chief 
interest. His work is not doled out to him in the 
form of tasks, but is graciously presented as a priv- 
ilege, and as such he esteems it. There he learns 
to live among people of differing tastes and interests 
without abdicating his own individuality. There 
he learns that life is work and that work is the very 
quintessence of life. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. How should dividends on school investments be es- 
timated ? 

2. What are the inherent rights of childhood ? 

3. What use may be made of play in the education of 
children ? 

4. Explain why adults are often unwilling to cooperate 
through lack of opportunity to play in childhood. 

5. Illustrate from your own knowledge and experience 
how the exercise of native tendencies may be the means of 
education. 

6. What modes of self-expression should be used by pupils 
of elementary schools ? of high schools ? 

7. What may the vitalized teacher do to assist in the 



THE CHILD 29 

development of self-expression? What should she refrain 
from doing? 

8. Suggest methods whereby the teacher may discover 
the content of the child's world. 

9. How may the child's experience, imagination, and ex- 
pression be interrelated? 

10. Why is the twentieth century called the "age of the 
child"? 



CHAPTER IV 

THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 

Rights of the coming generations. — Any school 
procedure that limits its interests and activities to 
the present generation takes a too restricted view 
of the real scope of education. The children of 
the next generation, and the next, are entitled to 
consideration if education is to do its perfect work 
and have complete and convincing justification. 
The child of the future has a right to grandfathers 
and grandmothers of sound body and sound mind, 
and the schools and homes of the present are charged 
with the responsibility of seeing to it that this right 
is vouchsafed to him. In actual practice our plans 
seem not to previse grandfathers and grandmothers, 
and stop short even of fathers and mothers. The 
child of the next generation has a right to a father 
and a mother of untainted blood, and neither the 
home nor the school can ignore this right. 

Transmitted weaknesses. — If these rights are 
not scrupulously respected by the present generation, 

30 



THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 31 

the child of the future may come into the world 
under a handicap that all the educational agencies 
combined can neither remove nor materially miti- 
gate. If he is crippled in mind or in body because 
of excesses on the part of his progenitors, the schools 
and hospitals may help him through life in a sorry 
sort of fashion, but his condition is evermore a 
reminder to him of how much he has missed in com- 
parison with the child of sound body and mind. 
If such a child does not imprecate even the memory 
of the ancestors whose vitiated blood courses through 
his stricken body, it will be because his mind is too 
weak to reason from effect to cause or because his 
affliction has taught him large charity. He will 
feel that he has been shamefully cheated in the great 
game of life, with no hope of restitution. By reason 
of this, his gaze is turned backward instead of for- 
ward, and this is a reversal of the rightful attitude of 
child life. Instead of looking forward with hope 
and happiness, he droops through a somber life and 
constantly broods upon what might have been. 

Attitude of ancestors. — Whether he realizes it 
or not, he reduces the average of humanity and is a 
burden upon society both in a negative and in a 
positive sense. In him society loses a worker and 



32 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

gains a dependent. Every taxpayer of the com- 
munity must contribute to the support which he 
is unable to provide for himself. He watches other 
children romp and play and laugh ; but he neither 
romps, nor plays, nor laughs. He is inert. Some 
ancestor chained him to the rock, and the vultures 
of disease and unhappiness are feeding at his vitals. 
He asks for bread, and they give him a stone ; he 
asks for life, and they give him a living death ; he 
asks for a heaven of delight, and they give him a 
hell of despair. He has a right to freedom, but, 
in place of that, he is forced into slavery of body 
and soul to pay the debts of his grandfather. Nor 
can he pay these debts in full, but must, perforce, 
pass them on to his own children. Sad to relate, 
the father and grandfather look upon such a child 
and charge Providence with unjust dealing in bur- 
dening them with such an imperfect scion to uphold 
the family name. They seem blind to the patent 
truth before them ; they seem unable to interpret 
the law of cause and effect ; they charge the Almighty 
and the child with their own defections; they ac- 
quit themselves of any responsibility for what is 
before their eyes. 

Hospitals cited. — Our hospitals for abnormal 



THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 33 

and subnormal children, and our eleemosynary 
institutions, in general, are a sad commentary upon 
our civilization and something of a reflection upon 
the school as an exponent of and a teacher of life. 
If the wards of these institutions, barring the vic- 
tims of accidents, are the best we can do in the way 
of coming upon a solution of the problem of life, 
neither society nor the school has any special war- 
rant for exultation. These defectives did not just 
happen. The law of life is neither fortuitous nor 
capricious. On the contrary, like begets like, and 
the law is immutable. With lavish hand, society 
provides the pound of cure but gives only super- 
ficial consideration to the ounce of prevention. 
The title of education will be cloudy until such time 
as these institutions have become a thing of the past. 
Both pulpit and press extol the efforts of society 
to build, equip, and maintain these institutions, 
and that is well ; but, with all that, we are merely 
trying to make the best of a bad situation. Educa- 
tion will not fully come into its own until it takes 
into the scope of its interests the child of the future 
as well as the child of the present; not until it 
comes to regard the children of the present as future 
ancestors as well as future citizens. 



34 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The child as a future ancestor. — If the children 
of the future are to prove a blessing to society and 
not a burden, then the children of the present need 
to become fully conscious of their responsibilities 
as agencies in bringing to pass this desirable condi- 
tion. If the teacher or parent can, somehow, cause 
the boy of to-day to visualize his own grandson, in 
the years to come, pointing the finger of scorn at 
him and calling down maledictions upon him because 
of a taint in the family blood, that picture will 
persist in his consciousness, and will prove a deter- 
rent factor in his life. The desire for immortality 
is innate in every human breast, we are taught, 
but certainly no boy will wish to achieve that sort 
of immortality. He will not consider with compla- 
cency the possibility of his becoming a pariah in 
the estimation of his descendants, and will go far 
in an effort to avert such a misfortune. There is 
no man but will shudder when he contemplates 
the possibility of having perpetuated upon his 
gravestone or in the memory of his grandchild the 
word " Unclean." 

The heart of the problem. — Here we arrive at 
the very heart of the problem that confronts the 
home and the school. We may close our eyes, or 



THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 35 

look another way, but the problem remains. We 
may not be able to solve it, but we cannot evade it. 
Each day it calls loudly to every parent and every 
teacher for a solution. The health and happiness 
of the coming generations depend upon the right 
education of the present one, and this responsibil- 
ity the home and the school can neither shirk nor 
shift. We take great unction to ourselves for the 
excellence of the horses, pigs, and cattle that we 
have on exhibition at the fairs, but are silent as to 
our failures in the form of children, that drag out a 
half-life in our hospitals. In one state it costs 
more to care for the defectives and unfortunates 
than to provide schooling facilities for all the normal 
children, but this fact is not written into party 
platforms nor proclaimed from the stump. In the 
face of such a fact society seems to proceed upon 
the agreeable assumption that the less said the 
better. 

Misconceptions. — We temporize with the funda- 
mental situation by the use of such soporifics as the 
expressions " necessary evil " and the like, but that 
leaves us exactly at the starting point. Many 
well-meaning people use these expressions with 
great frequency and freedom and seem to think that 



36 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

in so doing they have given a proof of virtue and 
public spirit. It were worthy only of an iconoclast 
to deprecate or disparage the legislative attempts 
to foster clean living. All such efforts are worthy 
of commendation ; but in sadness it must be con- 
fessed that, laudable as these efforts are, they have 
not produced results that are wholly satisfactory. 
Defectives are still granted licenses to perpetuate 
their kind ; children still enervate their bodies and 
minds by the use of narcotics ; and society daintily 
lifts its skirts as it hurries past the evil, pretending 
not to see. Legislation is an attempt to express 
public sentiment in statutory form ; but public 
sentiment must precede legislation if it is to become 
effective. Efforts have been made through the 
process of legislation to deny the granting of 
marriage licenses to people who are physically 
unsound, but the efforts came to naught because 
public sentiment has not attained to this plane of 
thinking. Hence, we shall not have much help 
from legislation in solving our problem, until public 
sentiment has been educated. 

The responsibility of the school. — This educa- 
tion must come, in large part, through the schools, 
but even these will fail until they come into a full 



THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 37 

realization of the fact that their field of effort is life 
in the large. Time was when the teacher thought 
she was employed to teach geography, grammar, and 
arithmetic. Then she enlarged this to include 
boys and girls. And now she needs to make another 
addition and realize that her function is to teach 
boys and girls the subject of Life, using the branches 
of study as a means to this end. In a report on the 
work of the schools at Gary, Indiana, the statement 
is made that the first purpose of these schools seems 
to be to produce efficient workers for the mills. This 
seems to savor of the doctrine of educational fore- 
ordination, and would make millwork and life 
synonymous. Life is larger than any mill. We 
may be justified in educating one horse for the 
plow and another for the race track, but this 
justification rests upon the fact that horses are 
assets and not liabilities. 

Clean living. — Clean living in this generation 
will, undeniably, project itself into the next, and 
we have only to see to it that all the activities of 
the school function in clean living in the child of 
to-day, and we shall surely be safeguarding the 
interests of the child of the future. But clean living 
means more than mere externals. The daily bath, 



38 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

pure food, fresh air, and sanitary conditions are 
essential but not sufficient in themselves. Clean 
thinking, right motives, and a high respect for the 
rights and interests of the future must enter into 
the scheme of life. There must be no devious ways, 
no back alleys, in the scheme, but only the broad 
highway of life, open always to the sunlight and to 
the gaze of all mankind. All this must become 
thoroughly enmeshed in the social consciousness and 
in the daily practice of every individual, before the 
school can lay claim to success in the art of teaching 
efficient living. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Investigate the following agencies as means for providing 
future generations with ancestors of untainted blood : legis- 
lation ; moral education ; physical education ; sex hygiene 
and eugenics ; penal institutions ; medical science. 

2. Enumerate some of the physical and mental handicaps 
of the child who is not well born. 

3. What powerful appeal for clean living may be made to 
the adolescent youth ? 

4. As a concrete example of children being punished for 
the sins of their fathers even unto the third and fourth genera- 
tion, read the history of the Juke family. 

5. To what extent does the school share the responsibility 
for the improvement of the physical and moral quality of the 
children of the future ? 



THE CHILD OF THE FUTURE 39 

6. What kind of teaching is needed to meet this responsi- 
bility ? 

7. Reliable authorities have estimated that 60 per cent or 
12,000,000 of the school children of America are suffering from 
removable physical defects ; that 93 per cent of the school 
children of the country have defective teeth; and that on 
the average the health of children who are not in attendance 
at school is better than that of those who are in school. In 
the light of these facts discuss the failure or success of our 
schools in providing fit material for efficient citizenship. 



CHAPTER V 

THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 

The politician defined. — The politician has been 
defined as one who makes a careful study of the 
wants of his community and is diligent in his efforts 
to supply these wants. This definition has, at the 
very least, the merit of mitigating, if not removing, 
the stigma that attaches to politicians in the popu- 
lar thought. Conceding the correctness of this 
definition, it must be evident that society is the 
beneficiary of the work of the politician, and would 
be the gainer if the number of politicians were mul- 
tiplied. The motive of self-interest lies back of all 
human activities, and education is constantly striv- 
ing to stimulate and accentuate this motive. Even 
in altruism we may find an admixture of self-interest. 
The merchant who arranges his goods artistically 
may hope by this means to win more patronage, 
but, aside from this, he wins a feeling of gratifica- 
tion. His self-interest may look either toward a 
greater volume of business or to a better class of 

40 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 41 

patrons, or both. While he is enlarging the scope 
of his business, he may be elevating the taste of 
his customers. In either case his self-interest is 
commendable. A successful merchant is better for 
the community than an unsuccessful one. 

Self-interest. — The physician is actuated by 
the motive of self-interest, also. His years of 
training are but a preparation for the competition 
that is certain to fall to his lot. He is gratified at 
the increase of his popularity as a successful prac- 
titioner. But he prescribes modes of living as well 
as remedies, and so tries to forestall and prevent 
disease, while he is exercising his curative skill. 
He tries not only to restore health, but also to pro- 
mote good health in the community by his recom- 
mendations of pure food, pure water, fresh air, and 
exercise. His motives are altruistic even while 
he is consulting self-interest. None but the cen- 
sorious will criticize the minister for accepting a 
larger parish even with a larger salary attached. 
The larger parish will afford him a wider field for 
usefulness, and the larger salary will enable him to 
execute more of his laudable plans. 

The methods of the politician. — Hence it will 
be seen that, in the right sense, merchants, physi- 



42 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

cians, and ministers are all politicians in that they 
seek to expand the sphere of their activities. Like 
the politician they study the wants of the people 
in order to win a starting point for leadership. 
True, there are quacks, charlatans, hypocrites, and 
demagogues, but none of these, nor all combined, 
avail to disprove the validity of the principle. It 
has often been said that the churches would do well 
to study and use the art of advertising that is so 
well understood by the saloons. This is another 
way of saying that the methods of the politician 
will avail in promoting right activities as well as 
wrong ones. The politician, whether he is a busi- 
ness man or a professional man, proceeds from the 
known to the related unknown, and thus shows 
himself a conscious or unconscious student of psy- 
chology. He studies that which is in order to 
promote that which should be. 

Leadership. — The politician aspires to leadership, 
and that is praiseworthy, provided his cause is a 
worthy one. If the cause is unworthy, the cloven 
foot will soon appear and repudiation will ensue, 
which will mark him unsuccessful as a politician. 
He may be actuated by the motive of self-interest, 
in common with all others, but this interest may 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN . 43 

focus in the amelioration of conditions as they are 
or in the advancement of his friends. The satis- 
faction of leadership is the sole reward of many a 
politician, with the added pleasure of seeing his 
friends profit by this leadership. A statesman is 
a politician grown large — large in respect to mo- 
tives, to plans and purposes, and to methods. The 
fundamental principle, however, remains constant. 

The politician worthy of imitation. — The suc- 
cessful politician must know people and their wants. 
He must know conditions in order to direct the 
course of his activities. Otherwise, he will find 
himself moving at random, and this may prove 
disastrous to his purposes. Much misdirected effort 
has been expended in disparaging the politician 
and his methods. If the man and his methods 
were better understood, they would often be found 
worthy of close imitation in the home, in the school, 
in the church, in the professions, and in business. 

Education and substitution. — Education, in the 
large, is the process of making substitutions. Ever- 
more, in school work, we are striving to substitute 
something better for something not so good. In 
brief, we are striving to substitute needs for wants. 
But before we can do this we must determine, by 



44 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

careful study and close observation, what the 
wants are. Ability to substitute needs for wants 
betokens a high type of leadership. The boy wants 
to read Henty, but needs to read Dickens or Shake- 
speare. How shall the teacher proceed in order 
to make the substitution ? Certainly it cannot be 
done by any mere fiat or ukase. Those who are 
incredulous as to the wisdom of establishing col- 
leges of education and normal schools to generate 
and promote methods of teaching have here a con- 
crete and pertinent question : Can a college of edu- 
cation or normal school give to an embryo teacher 
any method by which she may effectively substi- 
tute Shakespeare for Henty? 

Methods contrasted. — Some teachers have at- 
tempted to make this substitution by means of 
ridicule and sarcasm and then called the boy stupid 
because he continued to read his Henty. Others 
have indulged in rhapsodies on Shakespeare, hoping 
to inoculate the boy with the Shakespearean virus, 
and then called the boy stolid because he failed 
to share their apparent rapture. The politician 
would have pursued neither of these plans. His 
inherent or acquired psychology would have ad- 
monished him to begin where the boy is. He 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 45 

would have gone to Henty to find the boy. Hav- 
ing found him, he would have sat down beside 
him and entered into his interest in the book. In 
time he would have found something in the book 
to remind him of a passage in Shakespeare. This 
passage he would have read in his best style and 
then resumed the reading of Henty. Thus, by 
degrees, he would have effected the substitution, 
permitting the boy to think that this had been done 
on his own initiative. 

The principle illustrated. — The vitalized teacher 
observes, profits by, and initiates into her work 
the method of the politician and so makes her school 
work vital. Beginning with what the boy wants, 
she lures him along, by easy stages, until she has 
brought him within the circle of her own wants, 
which are, in reality, the needs of the boy. The 
boy walks along in paces, let us say, of eighteen 
inches. The teacher moderates her gait to harmo- 
nize with his, but gradually lengthens her paces to 
two feet. At first, she kept step with him; now 
he is keeping step with her and finds the enterprise 
an exhilarating adventure. She is teaching the 
boy to walk in strides two feet in length, and begins 
with his native tendency to step eighteen inches. 



46 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Thus she begins where the boy is, by acquainting 
herself with his wants, attaches her teaching to his 
native tendencies, and then proceeds from the 
known to the related unknown. Libraries abound 
in books that explain lucidly this simple elementary 
principle of teaching, but many teachers still seem 
to find it difficult of application. 

Substitution illustrated. — This method of sub- 
stitution becomes the rule of the school through the 
skill of the vitalized teacher. The lily of the valley 
is substituted for the sunflower, in the children's 
esteem, and there is generated a taste for the ex- 
quisite. The copy of the masterpiece of art sup- 
plants the bizarre chromo ; correct forms of speech 
take the place of incorrect forms ; the elegant 
usurps the place of the inelegant ; and the inartistic 
gives place to the artistic. The circle of their wants 
is extended until it includes their needs, and these, 
in turn, are transformed into wants. Thus all the 
pupils ascend to a higher level of appreciation of the 
things that make for a more comfortable and agree- 
able civilization. They work under the spell of 
leadership, for real leadership always inspires con- 
fidence. 

Society and the school. — At its best, society is 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 47 

but an enlarged copy of the vitalized school. Or, 
to put it in another way, the vitalized school is 
society in miniature. As the school is engaged in 
the work of making substitutions, so, in fact, is 
society. Legislative bodies are striving to substi- 
tute wise laws for the laws that have fallen behind 
the needs of the times, that the interests of society 
may be fully conserved. The church is substitut- 
ing better methods of work in all its activities for 
the methods that have become antiquated or inef- 
fective. This it does in the hope that its influence 
may be broadened and deepened. Ministers and 
oflicials are constantly pondering the question of 
substitutions. The farmer is substituting better 
methods of tilling the soil for the methods that 
were in vogue in a former time before science had 
invaded the realms of agriculture, to the end that 
he may increase the yield of his fields, make larger 
contributions to commerce, increase his profits, 
and so be better able to gratify some of the higher 
desires of his nature. 

The automobile factory. — Each successive model 
in an automobile factory is a concrete illustration 
of the process of making substitutions, and each 
substituted part bears witness to a close scrutiny 



48 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of past experiences as well as of the wants of pro- 
spective purchasers. The self-starter was a want 
at first ; but now it is a need, and, therefore, a neces- 
sity. If the school would but make as careful 
study of the boy's experiences and his wants as the 
manufacturer does in the case of automobiles, and 
then would attach the substitutions to these experi- 
ences and wants, the boy would very soon find him- 
self in happy possession of a self-starter which 
would prove to be the very crown of school work. 
The automobile manufacturer is both a psycholo- 
gist and a politician. 

Results of substitutions. — As a result of substi- 
tutions we have better roads, better houses, better 
laws, cleaner streets, better fences, better machinery, 
more sanitary conditions, and a higher type of 
conduct. We step to a higher level upon the expe- 
riences of the past and make substitutions as we 
move upward. The progress of civilization is meas- 
ured by the character of these substitutions and 
the rapidity with which they are made. The 
people on the Isle of Marken make but few substi- 
tutions, and these only at long intervals, and so 
they are looked upon as curiosities among humans. 
In all our missionary enterprises we are endeavor- 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 49 

ing to persuade the peoples among whom we are 
working to make substitutions. Instead of their 
own, we would have them accept our books, our 
styles of clothing, our plans of government, our 
modes of living, our means of transportation, and, 
in short, our standards of life. But, first of all, 
we must learn their standards of life; otherwise 
we cannot proceed intelligently or effectively in 
the line of substitutions. We must know their 
language before we can teach them ours, and we 
must translate our books into their language before 
we can hope to substitute our books for theirs. 
All the substitutions we hope to make presuppose 
a knowledge of their wants. Hence the methods 
of the missionary bear a close analogy to the meth- 
ods of the politician. 

The Idealist. — This is equally true of the vital- 
ized teacher. She is a practical idealist. In the 
words of the poet, her reach is beyond her grasp, 
and this proclaims her an idealist. In her capac- 
ity as a politician she makes a close study of the 
wants of her constituents, both pupils and parents, 
and so learns how best to articulate school work 
with the interests of the community. She does 
not hold aloof from her pupils or their homes, but 



50 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

studies them at close range, as do the missionary 
and the politician. She lives among them and so 
learns their language and their modes of thinking 
and living. Only so can she come into sympa- 
thetic relations with them and be of greatest serv- 
ice to them in promoting right substitutions. She 
finds one boy surcharged with the instinct of pug- 
nacity. This tendency manifests itself both in 
school and at home. Her own conclusions are 
ratified by the parents. He wants to fight. His 
whole nature cries aloud for battle. In such a 
case, neither repression nor suppression will avail. 
So she attaches a phase of school work to this 
native disposition and gives his pugnacious instinct 
a fair field. 

An example. — Enlisting him as her champion 
in a tournament, she pits against him a doughty 
antagonist in the form of a problem in arithmetic. 
In tones of encouragement she gives the signal and 
the fight is on. The boy pummels that problem 
as he would belabor a schoolmate on the playground. 
His whole being is focused upon the adventure. 
And when he has won his meed of praise, he feels 
himself a real champion. The teacher merely sub- 
stituted mind for hands in the contest and so fell 



THE TEACHER-POLITICIAN 51 

m with his notion that fighting is quite right if 
only the cause is a worthy one. He is quick to see 
the distinction and so makes the substitution with 
alacrity and with no loss of self-respect. Ever 
after he disdains the vulgar brawl and does not lose 
the fighting instinct. Thus the vitalized teacher 
by knowing how to make substitutions wins for 
society a valiant champion. If we multiply this 
example, we shall readily see how such a teacher- 
politician deserves the distinction of being termed a 
practical idealist. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. Distinguish the following terms : demagogue; politician ; 
statesman ; and practical idealist. 

2. Subject to what limitations should a successful teacher 
be a politician ? 

3. Enumerate the qualities of a successful politician that 
teachers should possess. 

4. How does the author define education? Criticize this 
definition. 

5. What resemblances has the process of education to the 
evolution of machinery? to the evolution of biological species? 

6. Describe methods by which the tactful teacher may 
secure helpful substitutions in the child's life. 

7. In what respects does society resemble a vitalized school ? 

8. Illustrate how teachers may utilize for the education of 
the child seemingly harmful instincts. 



CHAPTER VI 

SUBLIME CHAOS 

Acquisitiveness. — In fancy, at least, we may 
attain a position over and far above the city of 
London and from this vantage-place, with the aid 
of strong glasses, watch a panorama that is both 
entrancing and bewildering. The scene bewilders 
not alone by its scope, but still more by its com- 
plexity. The scene is a shifting one, too, never the 
same in two successive minutes. Here is Trafalgar 
Square, with its noble monument and the guardian 
lions, reminding us of Nelson in what is accounted 
one of the most heroic naval engagements recorded 
in history. As we look, we reconstitute the scene, 
far away, in which he was conspicuous, and reread 
in our books his stirring appeal to his men. Thence 
we glance up Regent Street and see it thronged 
with equipages that betoken wealth and luxury. 
Richly dressed people in great numbers are moving 
to and fro and giving color to the picture. A 
shabby garb cannot be made to fit into this pic- 

52 



SUBLIME CHAOS 53 

ture. When it appears, there is discord in the 
general harmony. All this motion must have mo- 
tives behind it somewhere ; but we can only conjec- 
ture the motives. We have only surface indica- 
tions to guide us in our quest for these. But we are 
reasonably certain that these people are animated 
by the instinct of acquisition. They seem to want 
to get things, and so come where things are to be 
had. 

Desires for things intangible. — There are miles 
of vehicles of many kinds wending their tortuous, 
sinuous ways in and out along streets that radiate 
hither and thither. They stay their progress for 
a moment and people emerge at Robinson's, at 
Selfridge's, at Liberty's. Each of these is the 
Mecca of a thousand desires, and faces beam with 
pleasure when they reappear. Some desire has 
evidently been gratified. Others alight at the Na- 
tional Gallery and enter its doors. When they 
come forth it is obvious that something happened 
to them inside that building. The lines of care on 
their faces are not so evident, and their step is more 
elastic and buoyant. Their desires did not have 
tangible things as their objectives as in the case of 
the people who entered the shops for merchandise, 



54 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

but their faces shine with a new light and, there- 
fore, their quest must have been successful. As 
we look, we realize that desires for intangible things 
may be as acute as for tangible ones, and that the 
gratification of these desires produces equal satis- 
faction. 

Westminster Abbey. — Not far away other 
throngs are invading Westminster Abbey. In those 
historic and hallowed precincts they are com- 
muning with the Past, the Present, and the Future. 
All about them is the sacred dust of those who once 
wrought effectively in affairs of state and in the 
realm of letters. History and literature have their 
shrine there, and these people are worshipers at 
that shrine. All about them are reminders of the 
Past, while the worshipers before the Cross direct 
their thoughts to the Future. Earth and Heaven 
both send forth an invitation for supreme interest 
in their thoughts and feelings. History and liter- 
ature call to them to emulate the achievements 
whose monuments they see about them, while the 
Cross admonishes them that these achievements 
are but temporal. Here they experience a fulfill- 
ment of their desires. Their knowledge is broad- 
ened, and their faith is lifted up. The Past thrills 



SUBLIME CHAOS 55 

them ; the Future inspires them ; and thus the 
Present is far more worth while. 

House of Parliament. — Across the way is Par- 
liament, and this conjures up a long train of events 
of vast import. The currents that flow out from 
this power-house have encircled the globe. Here 
conquests have been planned that electrified nations. 
Here have been generated vast armies and navies 
as messengers of Desire. Here have been voted vast 
treasures in execution of the desires of men for ter- 
ritorial extension and national aggrandizement. 
These halls have resounded with the eloquence of 
men who were striving to inoculate other men with 
the virus of their desires ; and the whole world has 
stood on tiptoe awaiting the issue of this eloquence. 
Momentous scenes have been enacted here, all 
emanating from the desires of men, and these scenes 
have touched the lives of untold millions of people. 

Commerce. — We see the Thames near by, teem- 
ing with ships from the uttermost corners of the 
earth, and we think of commerce. We use the word 
glibly, but no mind is able to comprehend its full 
import. We know that these ships ply the seas, 
bearing food and clothing to the peoples who live 
far away, but when we attempt to estimate the 



5Q THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

magnitude of commerce, the mind confesses to it- 
self that the problem is too great. We may mul- 
tiply the number of ships by their tonnage, but we 
get, in consequence, an array of figures so great 
that they cease to have any meaning for the finite 
mind. The best and most that they can do for us 
is to make us newly aware that the people who 
dwell in the jungles of Africa, who roam the pampas 
of South America, who climb the Alps, the Rockies, 
the Andes, and the Himalayas, all have desires that 
these ships are striving to gratify. 

Social intercourse. — Going up the river to Hamp- 
ton Court we see people out for a holiday. There are 
house-boats with elaborate and artistic fittings and 
furnishings, and other craft of every sort that lux- 
ury can suggest. One could imagine that none 
but fairies could stage such a scene. The blending 
of colors, the easy dalliance, the rippling laughter, 
the graceful feasting, and the eddying wavelets 
all conspire to produce a scene that serves to em- 
phasize the beauty of the shores. Underneath this 
enchanting scene of variegated beauty we discover 
the fundamental fact that man is a gregarious ani- 
mal, that he not only craves association with his 
kind but that playing with them brings him into 



SUBLIME CHAOS 57 

more harmonious communion with them. In their 
play they meet upon the plane of a common purpose 
and are thus unified in spirit. Hence, all this 
beauty and gayety is serving a beneficent purpose 
in the way of gratifying the inherent desire of man- 
kind for social intercourse. 

The travel instinct. — At Charing Cross the com- 
merce drama is reenacted, only here with trains 
instead of boats, and, mainly, people instead of 
merchandise. Here we see hurry and bustle, and 
hear the shriek of the engine and the warning blast 
of the guard. Trains are going out, trains are com- 
ing in. When the people step out upon the plat- 
forms, they seem to know exactly whither they are 
bound. There are porters all about to help them 
achieve their desires, and cabs stand ready at the 
curb to do their bidding. Here is human commerce, 
and the trains are the answer to the call of the 
human family to see their own and other lands. 
These trains are swifter and more agreeable for 
nomads than the camel of the desert or the Cones- 
toga wagon of the prairie. The nomadic instinct 
pulls and pushes people away from their own door- 
yards; hence railways, trains, engines, air brakes, 
telegraph lines, wireless apparatuses, and all the 



58 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

many other devices that the mind of man has de- 
signed at the behest of this desire to roam about. 

Monuments. — Further down the Thames we 
see Greenwich, which regulates the clocks for the 
whole world, and furnishes the sea captain the 
talisman by which he may know where he is. Over 
against St. Paul's is the Bank of England, which 
for long years ruled the finances of the world. Yon- 
der is the Museum, the conservator of the ages. 
There is the Rosetta Stone, which is the gateway of 
history ; there the Elgin Marbles, which proclaim 
the glory of the Greece that was ; there the palimp- 
sests which recall an age when men had time to 
think ; and there the books of all time by means of 
which we can rethink the big thoughts of men long 
since gone from sight. There are things that men 
now call curiosities that mark the course of minds 
in their struggles toward the light; and there are 
the sentiments of lofty souls that will live in the 
hearts of men long after these giant stones have 
crumbled. 

Desire for pastoral beauty. — Beyond the city, 
in the alluring country places, we see a landscape 
that delights the senses, ornate with hedges, flowers, 
vine-clad cottages, highways of surpassing smooth- 



SUBLIME CHAOS 59 

ness, fertile fields, and thrifty flocks and herds. 
There are carts and wagons on the roads bearing the 
products of field and garden to the marts of trade. 
Men, women, and children zealously ply the hoe, 
the plow, or the shovel, abetting Nature in her 
efforts to feed the hungry. In this pastoral scene 
there is dignity, serenity, and latent power. Its 
beauty answers back to the aesthetic nature of man- 
kind, and nothing that is artificial can ever supplant 
it in the way of gratifying man's desire for the 
beautiful. 

Economic articulation. — Through all the diver- 
sified phases of this panorama there runs a funda- 
mental principle of unity. There are no colli- 
sions. In the economy of civilization the farmer is 
coordinate with the artist, the artisan, and the trades- 
man. But, if all men were farmers, the economic 
balance would be disturbed. The railroad engineer 
is major because he is indispensable. So, also, is 
the farmer, the legislator, the artist, and the stu- 
dent. There is a degree of interdependence that 
makes for economic harmony. The articulation of 
all the parts gives us an economic whole. 

Aspirations. — This panorama is a picture of life; 
and the school is life. Hence the panorama and 



60 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

the school are identical; only the school is larger 
than the panorama, even though the picture is re- 
duced in size to fit the frame of the school. The 
pupils in the school have dreams and aspirations that 
reach far beyond the limits of the picture of our 
fancy. And all these aspirations are a part of life 
and so are indigenous in the vitalized school. And 
woe betide the teacher who would abridge or repress 
these dreams and aspirations. They are the very 
warp and woof of life, and the teacher who would 
eliminate them would suppress life itself. That 
teacher is in sorry business who would fit her pupils 
out with mental or spiritual strait-jackets, or mold 
them to some conventional pattern, even though it 
be her own. These pupils are the prototypes of the 
people in our panorama, and are, therefore, ani- 
mated by like inclinations and desires. 

Desire is fundamental. — Here is a boy who is 
hungry ; he desires food. But so does the man 
who is passing along the street. The man is focus- 
ing all his mental powers upon the problem of how 
he shall procure food. The man's problem is the 
boy's problem and each has a right to a solution of 
his problem. The school's business is to help the 
boy solve his problem and not to try to quench his 



SUBLIME CHAOS 61 

desire for food or try to persuade him that no such 
desire exists. This desire is one of the native dis- 
positions to which the work of the school is to attach 
itself. Desires are fundamental in the scheme of 
education, the very tentacles that will lay hold 
upon the school activities and render them effective. 
The teacher's large task is to strengthen and nour- 
ish incipient desires and to cause the pupil to hunger 
and thirst after the means of gratifying them. 

Innate tendencies. — Each pupil has a right to 
his inherent individuality. The school should not 
only begin where the boy is, but should begin its 
work upon what he is. Only so can it direct him 
toward what he ought to be. If the boy would 
alight at the National Gallery in order to regale 
himself with the masterpieces of art, why, pray, 
should the teacher try to curtail this desire and force 
him into Westminster Abbey? If she will accom- 
pany him into the Gallery and prove herself his 
friend and guide among the treasures of art, she 
will, doubtless, experience the joy of hearing him 
ask her to be his companion through the Abbey 
later on. The Abbey is quite right in its way and 
the boy must visit it soon or late, but to this par- 
ticular boy the Gallery comes first and he should be 



62 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

led to the Abbey by way of the Gallery. In school 
work the parties are all personally conducted, but 
the rule is that a party is composed of but one 
person. 

Illustration. — The girl is not to be condemned 
because she desires to visit the Selfridge shop rather 
than the Museum. The teacher may rhapsodize 
upon the Museum to the limit of her strength, but 
the girl is thinking of the beautiful fabrics to be 
seen at the shop, and, especially, of the delicious 
American ice cream that can be had nowhere else 
in London. It is rather a poor teacher who cannot 
lead the girl to the British Museum by way of Self- 
ridge's. If the teacher finds the task difficult, she 
would do well to traverse the route a few times in 
advance. The ice cream will help rather than 
hinder when they stand, at length, before the Rosetta 
Stone or read the original letter to Mrs. Bixby. 
The store and the Museum are both in the picture, 
and the teacher must determine which should come 
first in the itinerary of this girl. The native dispo- 
sitions and desires will point out the way to the 
teacher. 

The old-time schoolmaster was fond of setting as 
a copy in the old-fashioned copy book " All work 



SUBLIME CHAOS 63 

and no play makes Jack a dull boy " ; but, later, 
when he caught Jack playing he gave him a flogging, 
thus proving himself both inconsistent and defi- 
cient in a knowledge of psychology and fair play. 
If we are going to Greenwich we shall save time by 
taking the longer journey by way of Hampton 
Court. As we disport ourselves amid the beauties 
and gayeties of the Court we can prolong our pleas- 
ures by anticipating Greenwich, and so make our 
play the anteroom of our work. 

Variety in excellence. — In the vitalized school 
we shall find each pupil eager in his quest of food for 
the hunger he feels, and the teacher rejoicing in the 
development of his individuality. She would not 
have all her pupils attain the same level even of 
excellence. They are different, and she would have 
them so. Nor would she have her school exemplify 
the kind of order that is to be found in a gallery of 
statues. Her school is a place of life, eager, yearn- 
ing, pulsating life, and not a place of dead and dead- 
ening silence. Her pupils have diversified tastes 
and desires and, in consequence, diversified activities, 
but work is the golden cord that binds them in a 
healthy and healthful unity. This is sublime chaos, 
a busy, happy throng, all working at full strength 



64 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

at tasks that are worth while, and all animated by 
hopes and aspirations that reach out to the very 
limits of space. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What may the school do to give helpful direction and 
needed modifications to the instinct of acquisition ? 

2. The ultimate ends of education are more efficient produc- 
tion and more intelligent consumption. How and by what 
means may the school bring about a more intelligent choice 
of tangible and intangible things? 

3. What hint may the teacher of geography receive from 
the brief description of London's points of interest? 

4. Compare a vitalized school with the panorama of London. 

5. To what extent must individual differences be recognized 
by the teacher in the recitation ? in discipline ? 

6. Suggest means whereby pupils may be induced to spend 
their evenings with Dickens, Eliot, Macaulay, or Irving in 
preference to the "movies." 



CHAPTER VII 

DEMOCRACY 

A conflict. — There was a fight on a railway 
train — a terrific fight. The conductor and two 
other Americans were battling against ten or more 
foreigners. These foreigners had come aboard the 
train at a mining town en route to the city for a 
holiday. The train had hardly got under way, 
after the stop, when the fight was on. The battle 
raged back and forth from one car to the other across 
the platform amid the shouts and cursing of men 
and the screams of women. Bloody faces attested 
the intensity of the conflict. One foreigner was 
knocked from the train, but no account was taken 
of him. The train sped on and the fight continued. 
Nor did its violence abate until the train reached the 
next station, where the conductor summoned rein- 
forcements and invoked the majesty of the law in 
the form of an officer. The affray, from first to last, 
was most depressing and gave to the unwilling wit- 
ness a feeling that civilization is something of a mis- 
nomer and that men are inherently ferocious. 

f 65 



66 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Misconceptions. — More mature reflection, how- 
ever, served to modify this judgment, and the appli- 
cation of some philosophy resolved the distressing 
combat into a relatively simple proposition. The 
conductor and his assistants were fighting for their 
conception of order, and their opponents were fight- 
ing for their conception of manhood. Reduced to 
its primal elements, the fight was the result of a 
dual misconception. The conductor was battling 
to vindicate his conception of order; the foreigners 
were battling to vindicate their conception of the 
rights of men in a democracy. Neither party to the 
contest understood the other, and each one felt 
himself to be on the defensive. Neither one would 
have confessed himself the aggressor, and yet each 
one was invading the supposed rights of the other. 
Judicial consideration could readily have averted 
the whole distressing affair. 

Foreign concept of democracy. — The foreigners 
had come to our country with roseate dreams of 
democracy. To their conception, this is the land 
where every man is the equal of every other man ; 
where equal rights and privileges are vouchsafed to 
all men without regard to nationality, position, or 
possessions ; where there is no faintest hint of the 



DEMOCRACY 67 

caste system ; and where there are no possible lines 
of demarcation. Their disillusionment on that train 
was swift and severe, and the observer could not 
but wonder what was their conception of a democ- 
racy as they walked about the streets of the city or 
gave attention to their bruised faces. Their dreams 
of freedom and equal rights must have seemed a 
mockery. They must have felt that they had been 
lured into a trap by some agency of cruelty and 
injustice. After such an experience they must 
have been unspeakably homesick for their native 
land. 

" Melting pot." — Their primary trouble arose 
from the fact that they had not yet achieved de- 
mocracy, but had only a hazy theoretical conception 
of its true meaning. Nor did the conductor give 
them any assistance. On the contrary he pushed 
them farther away into the realm of theory, and 
rendered them less susceptible to the influence of 
the feeling for democracy. Before these foreigners 
can become thoroughly assimilated they must know 
this feeling by experience ; and until this experience 
is theirs they cannot live comfortably or harmo- 
niously in our democracy. To do this effectively 
is one of the large tasks that confront the American 



68 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

school and society as a whole. If we fail here, the 
glory of democracy will be dimmed. All Ameri- 
cans share equally in the responsibility of this task. 
The school, of course, must assume its full share of 
this responsibility if it would fully deserve the name 
of melting pot. 

Learning democracy. — Meeting this responsi- 
bility worthily is not the simple thing that many 
seem to conceive it to be. If it were, then any 
discussion appertaining to the teaching of democracy 
would be superfluous. This subject of democracy 
is, in fact, the most difficult subject with which the 
school has to do, and by far the most important. 
Its supreme importance is due to the fact that all 
the pupils expect to live in a democracy, and, unless 
they learn democracy, life cannot attain to its maxi- 
mum of agreeableness for them nor can they make 
the largest possible contributions to the well-being 
of society. It has been said that the seventeenth 
century saw Versailles ; the eighteenth century saw 
the Earth ; and the nineteenth century saw Human- 
ity. Then the very pertinent question is asked, 
"Which century will see Life?" We who love 
our country and our form of government fondly 
hope that we may be the first to see Life, and, if 



DEMOCRACY 69 

this privilege falls to our lot, we must come to see 
life through the medium of democracy. 

The vitalized school a democracy. — Life seems 
to be an abstract something to many people, but it 
must become concrete before they can really see 
it as it is. Democracy is a means, therefore, of 
transforming abstract life into concrete life, and so 
we are to come into a fuller comprehension of life 
through the gateway of democracy. The vitalized 
school is a laboratory of life and, at the same time, 
it is the most nearly perfect exemplification of de- 
mocracy. The nearer its approach to perfection in 
exemplifying the spirit and workings of a democracy, 
the larger service it renders society. If the outflow 
from the school into society is a high quality of 
democracy, the general tone of society will be im- 
proved. If society deteriorates, the school may not 
be wholly at fault, but it evidently is unable to sup- 
ply to society reenforcement in such quantity and of 
such quality as will keep the level up to normal. 

Responsibility of the individual. — In society each 
individual raises or lowers the level of democracy 
according to what he is and does. The idler fails 
to make any contributions to the well-being of 
society and thus lowers the average of citizenship. 



70 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The trifler and dawdler lower the level of democracy 
by reason of their inefficiency. They may exercise 
their right to vote but fail to exercise their right to 
act the part of efficient citizens. If all citizens 
emulated their example, democracy would become 
inane and devitalized. Tramps, burglars, feeble- 
minded persons, and inebriates lower the level of 
democracy because of their failure to render their 
full measure of service, and because, in varying 
degrees, they prey upon the resources of society 
and thus add to its burdens. Self-reliance, self- 
support, self-respect, as well as voting, are among 
the rights that all able-bodied citizens must exercise 
before democracy can come into its rightful heritage. 
The function of the school. — All this and much 
more the schools must teach effectively so that it 
shall be thoroughly enmeshed in the social conscious- 
ness or their output will reveal a lack of those qual- 
ities that make for the larger good of democratic 
society. Democracy must be grooved into habits 
of thought and action or the graduates of the schools 
will fall short of achieving the highest plane of living 
in the community. They will not be in harmony 
with their environment, and friction will ensue, which 
will reduce, in some degree, the level of democracy. 



DEMOCRACY 71 

Hence, the large task of the school is to inculcate the 
habit of democracy with all that the term implies. 
Twelve years are none too long for this important 
work, even under the most favorable conditions and 
under the direction of the most skillful teaching. 
Indeed, civic economy will be greatly enhanced if, 
in the twelve years, the schools accomplish this one 
big purpose. 

Manifestations of democratic spirit. — We may 
not be able to resolve democracy into its constituent 
elements, but the spirit that is attuned to democracy 
is keenly alive to its manifestations. The spirit 
so attuned is quick to detect any slightest discord 
in the democratic harmony. This is especially 
true in the school democracy. A discordant note 
affects the entire situation and militates against 
effective procedure. In the school democracy we 
look for a series and system of compromises, — for a 
yielding of minor matters that major ones may be 
achieved. We look for concessions that will make 
for the comfort and progress of the entire body, and 
we experience disappointment if we fail to discover 
some pleasure in connection with these concessions. 
We expect to see good will banishing selfishness 
and every semblance of monopoly. We expect 



72 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

to find every pupil glad to share the time and 
strength of the teacher with his fellows even to the 
point of generosity, and to find joy in so doing. 
We expect to find each pupil eager to deposit all 
his attainments and capabilities as assets of the 
school and to find his chief joy in the success of all 
that the school represents. 

Obstacles in the path. — But it is far easier to 
depict democracy than to teach it. In fact, the 
teacher is certain to encounter obstacles, and many 
of these have their source in American homes. 
Indeed, some of the most fertile sources of discord 
in the school may be traced to a misconception of 
democracy on the part of the home. One of these 
misconceptions is a species of anarchy, which ap- 
propriates to itself the gentler name of democracy. 
But, none the less, it is anarchy. It disdains all law 
and authority, treads under foot the precepts of the 
home and the school, flouts the counsels of parents 
and teachers, and is self-willed, obstinate, and defiant. 
Democracy obeys the law ; anarchy scorns it. De- 
mocracy respects the rights of others, anarchy over- 
rides them. Democracy exalts good will ; anarchy 
exalts selfishness. Democracy respects the Golden 
Rule ; anarchy respects nothing, not even itself. 



DEMOCRACY 73 

Anarchy. — When this spirit of anarchy gains 
access to the school, it is not easily eradicated for 
the reason that the home is loath to recognize it as 
anarchy, and resents any such implication on the 
part of the school. The father may be quite unable 
to exercise any control over the boy, but he is reluc- 
tant to admit the fact to the teacher. Such a boy 
is an anarchist and no sophistry can gloss the fact. 
What he needs is a liberal application of monarchy 
to fit him for democracy. He should read the Old 
Testament as a preparation for an appreciative 
perusal of the New Testament. If the home can- 
not generate in him due respect for constituted 
authority, then the school must do so, or he will 
prove a menace to society and become a destructive 
rather than a constructive agency. Here we have 
a tense situation. Anarchy is running riot in the 
home; the home is arrayed against the attempts of 
the school to correct the disorder ; and Democracy 
is standing expectant to see what will be done. 

Snobbery. — Scarcely less inimical to democracy 
than anarchy is snobbery. The former is violent, 
while the latter is insidious. Both poison the source 
of the stream of democracy. If the home instills 
into the minds of children the notion of inherent 



74 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

superiority, they will carry this into the school 
and it will produce a discord. A farmer and a 
tenant had sons of the same age. These lads played 
together, never thinking of superiority or inferiority. 
Now the son of the tenant is president of one of the 
great universities, and the son of the proprietor is a 
janitor in one of the buildings of that university. 
Democracy presents to view many anomalies, and the 
school age is quite too early for anything approaching 
the caste system or snobbery. The time may come 
when the rich man's son will consider it an honor to 
drive the car for his impecunious classmate. 

Restatement. — It needs to be repeated, there- 
fore, that democracy is the most difficult subject 
which the school is called upon to teach, not only 
because it is difficult in itself, but also because of 
the attitude of many homes that profess democracy 
but do not practice it. To the influence of such 
homes one may trace the exodus of many children 
from the schools. The parents want things done in 
their way or not at all, and so withdraw their chil- 
dren to vindicate their own autocracy. They are 
willing to profit by democracy but are unwilling 
to help foster its growth. They not only lower the 
level of democracy but even compel their children 



DEMOCRACY 75 

to lower it still more. The teacher may yearn for 
the children and the children for the teacher, but 
the home is inexorable and sacrifices the children 
to a misconception of democracy. 

Cooperation. — Democracy does not mean fel- 
lowship, but it does mean cooperation. It means 
that people in all walks of life are animated by the 
common purpose to make all their activities contrib- 
ute to the general good of society. It means that 
the railroad president may shake hands with the 
brakeman and talk with him, man to man, encour- 
aging him to aspire to promotion on merit. It 
means that this brakeman may become president of 
the road with no scorn for the stages through which 
he passed in attaining this position. It means that 
he may understand and sympathize with the men 
in his employ without fraternizing with them. It 
means that every boy may aspire to a place higher 
than his father has attained with no loss of affection 
for him. It does not mean either sycophancy or 
truculence, but freedom to every individual to make 
the most of himself and so help others to make the 
most of themselves. 

The democratic teacher. — Democracy is learned 
not from books but from the democratic spirit that 



76 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

obtains in the school. If the teacher is surcharged 
with democracy, her radiating spirit sends out cur- 
rents into the life of each pupil, and the spirit of 
democracy thus generated in them fuses them into 
homogeneity. Thus they become democratic by 
living in the atmosphere of democracy, as the boy 
grew into the likeness of the Great Stone Face. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. How may elementary teachers inculcate the principles of 
true democracy ? 

2. By what means may public schools assist in the trans- 
formation of illiterate foreigners into "intelligent American 
citizens " ? 

3. What are some of the weaknesses of democracy which 
the public school may remedy? the press? public officials? 
the people? 

4. Are such affairs as are described in the beginning of the 
chapter peculiar to democracies? Why or why not? 

5. How may school discipline recognize democratic prin- 
ciples, thereby laying the foundation of respect for law and 
order by our future citizens ? 

6. What qualities of citizens are inconsistent with a high 
level of democracy ? 

7. Discuss the extent to which the management of the 
classroom should be democratic. 

8. How may the monarchical government of a school fit 
pupils for a democracy? How may it unfit them? 

9. In what ways may the following institutions raise the 
level of democracy : centralized schools ? vocational schools ? 
junior high schools ? moonlight schools ? evening schools ? 



CHAPTER VIII 

PATRIOTISM 

Patriotism as a working principle. — The vi- 
talized school generates and fosters patriotism, not 
merely as a sentiment, but more particularly as a 
working principle. Patriotism has in it a modicum 
of sentiment, to be sure, as do religion, education, 
the home, and civilization; but sentiment alone 
does not constitute real or true patriotism. The 
man who shouts for the flag but pursues a course 
of conduct that brings discredit upon the name of 
his country, belies the sentiment that his shouting 
would seem to express. The truly patriotic man 
feels that he owes to his country and his race his 
whole self, — his mind, his time, and his best efforts, 
— and the payment of this obligation spells life to 
him. Thus he inevitably interprets patriotism in 
terms of industry, economy, thrift, and the full 
conservation of time and energy, that he may render 
a good account of his stewardship to his country. 

Spelling as patriotism. — With this broad con- 

77 



78 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

ception in mind the teacher elevates patriotism 
to the rank of a motive and proceeds to organize 
all the school activities in consonance with this 
conception. Actuated by this high motive the 
pupils, in time, come to look upon correct spelling 
not only as a comfort and a convenience, but also 
as a form of patriotism in that it is an exponent 
of intelligent observation and as such wins respect 
and commendation from people at home and people 
abroad. Or, to put the case negatively, if we were 
all deficient in the matter of spelling, the people of 
other lands would hold us up to ridicule because 
of this defect ; but if we are expert in the art of 
spelling, they have greater respect for us and for 
our schools. Hence, such a simple matter as spell- 
ing tends to invest the flag of our country with 
better and fuller significance. Thus spelling be- 
comes woven into the life processes, not as a mere 
task of the school, but as a privilege vouchsafed to 
every one who yearns to see his country win dis- 
tinction. 

Patriotism a determining motive. — In like man- 
ner the teacher runs the entire gamut of school 
studies and shows how each one may become a 
manifestation of patriotism. If she has her pupils 



PATRIOTISM 79 

exchange letters with pupils in the schools of other 
countries, they see, at once, that their spelling, 
their writing, and their composition will all be 
carefully assessed in the formation of an estimate 
of ourselves and our schools. It is evident, there- 
fore, that the pupils will give forth their best efforts 
in all these lines that the country they represent 
may appear to the best advantage. In such an 
exercise the motive of patriotism will far outweigh 
in importance the motive of grades. Besides, the 
letters are written to real people about real life, 
and, hence, life and patriotism become synonymous 
in their thinking, and all their school work becomes 
more vital because of their patriotism. 

History. — In the study of history, the pupils 
readily discover that the men and women who have 
given distinction to their respective countries have 
done so, in the main, by reason of their attainments 
in science, in letters, and in statesmanship. They 
are led to think of Goethals in the field of applied 
mathematics ; of Burbank in the realm of botany ; 
of Edison in physics ; of Scott and Burns in litera- 
ture ; of Max Miiller in philology ; of Schliemann 
in archaeology ; of Washington and Lincoln in 
the realm of statesmanship ; and of Florence Night- 



80 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

ingale and Clara Barton in philanthropy. They 
discover that France deemed it an honor to have 
Erasmus as her guest so long as he found it agree- 
able to live in that country, and that many coun- 
tries vied with one another in claiming Homer as 
their own. Phillips Brooks was a patriot, not alone 
because of his profession of love for his country, 
but because of what he did that added luster to 
the name of his country. 

Efficiency. — The study of physiology and hy- 
giene affords a wide field for the contemplation 
and practice of patriotic endeavor. The care of 
the body is a patriotic exercise in that it promotes 
health and vigor, and these underlie efficiency. 
Anything short of efficiency is unpatriotic because 
it amounts to a subtraction from the possible best 
that may be done to advance the interests of society. 
The shiftless man is not a patriot, nor yet the man 
who enervates his body by practices that render 
him less than efficient. The intemperate man may 
shout lustily at sight of the flag, but his noise only 
proclaims his lack of real patriotism. An honest 
day's work would redound far more to the glory 
of his country than his noisy protestations. See- 
ing that behind every deliberate action there lies a 



PATRIOTISM 81 

motive, the higher the motive the more noble will 
be the action. If, then, we can achieve temper- 
ance through the motive of patriotism, society will 
be the beneficiary, not only of temperance itself, 
but also of many concomitant benefits. 

Temperance. — Temperance may be induced, of 
course, through the motives of economy, good 
health, and the like, but the motive of patriotism 
includes all these and, therefore, stands at the 
summit. Waste, in whatever form, is evermore 
unpatriotic. Conservation is patriotism, whether 
of natural resources, human life, human energy, or 
time. The intemperate man wastes his substance, 
his energies, his opportunities, his self-respect, and 
his moral fiber. Very often, too, he becomes a 
charge upon society and abrogates the right of 
his family to live comfortably and agreeably. 
Hence, he must be accounted unpatriotic. If all 
men in our country were such as he, our land would 
be derided by the other nations of the world. He 
brings his country into disrepute instead of glorify- 
ing it because he does less than his full share in 
contributing to its well-being. He renders him- 
self less than a typical American and brings re- 
proach upon his country instead of honor. 



82 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Sanitation. — One of the chief variants of the 
general subject of physiology and hygiene is sani- 
tation, and this, even yet, affords a field for ag- 
gressive and constructive patriotism. Grime and 
crime go hand in hand; but, as a people, we have 
been somewhat slow in our recognition of this 
patent truth. Patriotism as well as charity should 
begin at home, and the man who professes a love 
for his country should make that part of his country 
which he calls his home so sanitary and so attractive 
that it will attest the sincerity of his profession. 
If he loves his country sincerely, he must love his 
back yard, and what he really loves he will care for. 
It does him no credit to have the flag floating above 
a home that proclaims his shiftlessness. His feel- 
ing for sanitation, attractiveness, and right condi- 
tions as touching his own home surroundings will 
expand until it includes his neighborhood, his county, 
his State, and his entire country. 

A typical patriot. — A typical patriot is the busy, 
intelligent, frugal, cultured housewife whose home 
is her kingdom and who uses her powers to make 
that kingdom glorious. She regrets neither the 
time nor the effort that is required to make her 
home clean, artistic, and comfortable. She places 



PATRIOTISM 83 

upon it the stamp of her character, industry, and 
good taste. She supplies it with things that de- 
light the senses and point the way to culture. To 
such a home the crude and the bizarre are a prof- 
anation. She administers her home as a sacred 
trust in the interests of her family and never for 
exhibition purposes. Her home is an expression 
of herself, and her children will carry into life the 
standards that she inculcates through the agency 
of the home. Life is better for the family and for 
the community because her home is what it is, and, 
in consequence, her patriotism is far-reaching in 
its influence. If all homes were such as this, our 
country would be exploited as representing the 
highest plane of civilization the world has yet at- 
tained. The vitalized teacher is constantly striv- 
ing to have this standard of home and home life 
become the standard of her pupils. 

Mulberry Bend. — In striking contrast with this 
home are conditions in Mulberry Bend, New York, 
as described by a writer thoroughly conversant with 
conditions as they were until recently — conditions, 
however, now much bettered: "These alleys, 
running from nowhere to nowhere, alongside cellars 
where the light never enters and where nothing can 



84 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

live but beast-men and beast-women and rats; be- 
hind foul rookeries where skulk the murderer and 
the abandoned tramp ; beside hideous plague-spots 
where the stench is overpowering — Bottle Alley, 
where the rag-pickers pile their bags of stinking 
stuff, and the Whyo Roost where evil-visaged beings 
prowl about, hunting for prey ; dozens of alleys 
winding in and out and intersecting, so that the 
beast may slay his prey, and hide in the jungle, 
and be safe ; these foul alleys — who shall picture 
them, or explore their depths, or describe their 
wretchedness and their hideousness? . . . Upon 
the doorsteps weary mothers are nursing little babies 
who will never know the meaning of innocent child- 
hood, but will be versed in the immoral lore of 
the Underworld before they learn their alphabet. 
Ragged children covered with filth play about the 
pushcarts and the horses in the street, while their 
mothers chatter in greasy doorways, or shout from 
upper windows into the hordes below, or clatter 
about creaky floors, preparing the foul mess of 
tainted edibles which constitutes a meal." 

With many other phases of this gruesome picture 
this author deals, and then concludes with the fol- 
lowing : " But in the rookeries which, like their 



PATRIOTISM 85 

inmates, skulk and hide out of sight in the crowded 
street; in these ramshackle structures which line 
the back alleys, and there breed their human vermin 
amid dirt and rags — in these there is no direct 
sunlight throughout the long year. Rookeries close 
to the front windows, shutting out light and air, 
and rookeries close to the rear windows, and rookeries 
close to each side, and never a breath of fresh air to 
ventilate one of these holes wherein men and women 
and children wallow in dirt, and live and fight and 
drink and die, and finally give way to others of their 
kind." So long as such conditions as these continue 
in our country, sanitation as a manifestation of 
patriotism will not have done its perfect work, and 
the stars and stripes of our flag will lack somewhat 
of their rightful luster. 

Patriotism in daily life. — When the influences 
of hygiene and of home economics, taught as life 
processes and not merely as prerequisites for gradua- 
tion, by teachers who regard them as forms of 
patriotism, — when these influences have percolated 
to every nook and cranny of our national life, — to 
the homes, the streets and alleys, the farms, the 
shops, the factories, and the mines, such conditions 
as these will disappear, and we as a nation shall 



86 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

then have a clearer warrant for our profession of 
patriotic interest in and devotion to the welfare 
of our country as a whole. But so long as we can 
look upon insanitary conditions without a shudder; 
so long as we permit dirt to breed disease and crime ; 
so long as we make our streams the dumping places 
for debris ; so long as we tolerate ugliness where 
beauty should obtain ; and so long as our homes 
and our farms betray the spirit of shiftlessness, — so 
long shall we have occasion to blush when we look 
at our flag and confess our dereliction of our high 
privilege of patriotism. 

The American restaurant. — Perhaps no single 
detail of the customs that obtain in our country 
impresses a cultivated foreigner more unfavorably 
than the regime in our popular restaurants. The 
noise, the rattle and clatter and bang, the raucous 
calling of orders, and the hurry and confusion give 
him the impression that we are content to have feed- 
ing places where we might have eating places. He 
regards all that he sees and hears as being less than 
proper decorum, less than a high standard of intel- 
ligence, less than refined cultivation, and less than 
agencies that contribute to the graces of life. He 
marvels that we have not yet attained the concep- 



PATRIOTISM 87 

tion that partaking of food amounts to a gracious 
and delightful ceremony rather than a gastronomic 
orgy. His surprise is not limited to the people who 
administer these establishments, but extends to the 
people who patronize them. He marvels that the 
patrons do not seek out places where there is quiet, 
and serenity, and pleasing decorum. He returns 
to his own land wondering if the noisy restaurant 
is typical of American civilization. He may not 
know that the study of domestic science in our schools 
has not had time to attain its full fruition in the way 
of inculcating a lofty conception of life in the dining 
room. 

Thrift as patriotism. — Another important phase 
of patriotism is thrift ; and here, again, we have come 
short of realizing our possibilities. There are far 
too many people who have failed to lay in store 
against times of emergency, far too many who care 
only for to-day with slight regard for to-morrow. 
Moreover, there are far too many who, despite sound 
bodies, are dependents, contributing nothing to the 
resources of society, but constantly preying upon 
those resources. There are in our country not fewer 
than one hundred thousand tramps, and by some 
the number has been estimated at a half -million. 



88 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

If this vast army of dependents could be transferred 
to the ranks of producers, tilling our fields, harvest- 
ing our crops, constructing our highways of travel, 
redeeming our waste places, and beautifying our 
streams, life would be far more agreeable both for 
them and for the rest of our people. They would 
become self-supporting and so would win self-respect ; 
they would subtract their number from the number 
of those who live at public expense ; and they would 
make contributions to the general store. They 
would thus relieve society of the incubus of their 
dependence, and largely increase the number of our 
people who are self-supporting. 

Some contrasts. — We are making some progress 
in the line of thrift through our school savings and 
postal savings, but we have not yet attained to a 
national conception of thrift as an element of pa- 
triotism. This is one of the large yet inspiring 
privileges of the vitalized school. Thrift is so in- 
timately identified with life that they naturally 
combine in our thinking, and we have only to reach 
the conception that our mode of life is the measure 
of our patriotism in order to realize that thrift and 
patriotism are in large measure identical. The in- 
dustrious, frugal, thrifty man is patriotic; the un- 



PATRIOTISM 89 

thrifty, lazy, shiftless man is unpatriotic. The one 
ennobles and honors his country ; the other dis- 
honors and degrades his country. 

Conclusion. — If the foregoing conclusions are 
valid, and to every thoughtful person they must 
seem well-nigh axiomatic, then the school has a 
wide field of usefulness in the way of inculcating a 
loftier and broader conception of patriotism. The 
teacher who worthily fills her place in the vitalized 
school will give the boys and girls in her care such 
a conception of patriotism as will give direction, 
potency, and significance to every school activity 
and lift these activities out of the realm of drudgery 
into the realm of privilege. Her pupils will be made 
to feel that what they are doing for themselves, their 
school, and their homes, they are doing for the honor 
and glory of their country. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. In what ways and to what extent should patriotism 
affect conduct? 

2. Indicate methods in which patriotism may be used as 
an incentive to excel in the different branches of study. 

3. What branches of study should have for their sole func- 
tion to stimulate the growth of patriotism ? Discuss methods 
and give instances. 

4. Distinguish from patriotism each of the following coun- 



90 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

terfeits : sectionalism ; partisanship ; nationalism ; and jin- 
goism. Should teachers try to eradicate or sublimate these 
sentiments ? How ? 

5. What should be the attitude of the teacher of history 
toward Commodore Decatur's toast: "My country, may she 
always be in the right ; but right or wrong, my country" ? 

6. Cite recent history to prove that temperance and sani- 
tation are necessary for the realization of national victories 
and the perpetuation of the common welfare. 

7. Is the "Golden Rule" a vital principle of patriotism? 
Why? 

8. How are culture and refinement related to patriotism? 
thrift? 

9. Make a list of songs, poems, novels, paintings, and 
orations that are characterized by lofty patriotic sentiments. 
Name some that are usually regarded as patriotic but which 
are tainted with inferior sentiments. 

10. Discuss the adaptability of these to the different periods 
of youthful development and the methods whereby their appeal 
may be made most effective. 



CHAPTER IX 

WORK AND LIFE 

Tom Sawyer. — Tom Sawyer was one of the most 
effective teachers that has figured in the pages of 
the books ; and yet we still regard Mark Twain as 
merely the prince of humorists. He was that, of 
course, but much more ; and some day we shall 
read his books in quest of pedagogical wisdom and 
shall not be disappointed. It will be recalled that 
Tom Sawyer sat on the top of a barrel and munched 
apples while his boy companions whitewashed the 
fence in his stead. Tom achieved this triumph be- 
cause he knew how to emancipate work from the 
plane of drudgery and exalt it to the plane of a privi- 
lege. Indeed, it loomed so large as a privilege that 
the other boys were eager to barter the treasures 
of their pockets in exchange for this privilege. And 
never did a fence receive such a whitewashing ! 
There wasn't fence enough and, therefore, the pro- 
cess must needs be repeated again and again. The 
best part of the entire episode was that everybody 

91 



92 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

was happy, Tom included. Tom was happy in 
seeing his plan work, and the other boys were happy 
because they were doing work that Tom had caused 
them to become eager to do. 

Work as a privilege. — To make work seem a 
privilege is a worthy task for the school to set before 
itself, and if it but achieves this it will prove itself 
worth all it costs. At first thought, it seems a 
stupendous task, and so it is. But Tom Sawyer 
accomplished it in an easy, natural way, with no 
parade or bombast. He had habit and tradition 
to contend against, just as the school has, but he 
overbore these obstacles and won the contest. Some 
of those boys, before that morning, may have thought 
it ignoble to perform menial tasks ; but Tom soon 
overcame that feeling and led them to feel that only 
an artist can whitewash a fence properly. Some of 
them may have been interpreting life as having a 
good time, but, under the tutorage of Tom, they 
soon came to feel that having a good time means 
whitewashing a fence. 

The persistency of habit. — In striving to exalt 
and ennoble work, the school runs counter to habits 
of thought that have been formed in the home, and 
these habits prove stubborn. The home has so 



WORK AND LIFE 93 

long imposed work as a task that the school finds 
it difficult to make it seem a privilege. The father 
and mother have so often complained of their work, 
in the presence of their children, that all work comes 
to assume the aspect of a hardship, if not a penalty. 
It often happens, too, that the parents encourage 
their children to think that education affords im- 
munity from work, and the children attend school 
with that notion firmly implanted in their minds. 
They seem to think that when they have achieved 
an education they will receive their reward in the 
choicest gifts that Fortune has to bestow, and that 
their only responsibility will be to indicate their 
choices. 

Misconceptions of work. — Still further, when 
children enter school imbued with this conception 
of work, they feel that the work of the school is im- 
posed upon them as a task from which they would 
fain be free. If their parents had only been as wise 
as Tom Sawyer and had set up motives before them 
in connection with their home activities and thus 
exalted all their work to the plane of privilege, the 
work of the school would be greatly simplified. It 
is no slight task to eradicate this misconception of 
work, but somehow it must be done before the work 



94 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of the school can get on. Until this is done, the 
work of the school will be done grudgingly instead of 
buoyantly, and work that is done under compulsion 
is never joyous work. Nor will work that is done 
under compulsion ever be done in full measure, as 
the days of slavery clearly prove. 

Illustrations. — Life and work are synonymous, 
and no amount or form of sophistry can abrogate 
their relation. The man who does not work does, 
not have real life, as the invalid will freely witness. 
The tramp on the highway manages to exist, but he 
does not really live, no matter what his philosophy 
may be. Many children interpret life to mean 
plenty of money and nothing to do, but this con- 
ception merely proves that they are children with 
childish misconceptions. They see the railway mag- 
nate riding in his private car and conceive his life to 
be one of ease and luxury. They do not realize that 
the private car affords him the opportunity to do more 
and better work. They see the president of the bank 
sitting in his private office and imagine that he is 
idle, not realizing that his mind is busy with prob- 
lems of great magnitude, problems that would appall 
his subordinates. They cannot know, as he sits 
there, that he is projecting his thoughts into far-off 



WORK AND LIFE 95 

lands, and is watching the manifold and complex 
processions of commerce in their relations to the 
world of finance. 

Concrete examples. — They see the architect in 
his luxurious apartments, but do not realize that 
his brain is directing every movement of a thousand 
men who are causing a colossal building to tower 
toward the sky. They see a Grant sitting beneath 
a tree in apparent unconcern, but do not know that 
he is bearing the responsibility of the movements 
of a vast army. They see the pastor in his study 
among his books, but do not know the travail of 
spirit that he experiences in his yearning for his 
parishioners. They see the farmer sitting at ease 
in the shade, but do not know that he is visualizing 
every detail of his farm, the men at their tasks, the 
flocks and herds, the crops, the streams, the ma- 
chinery, the fences, and the orchards and vineyards. 
They see the master of the ship, standing on the 
bridge clad in his smart uniform, and imagine that 
he is merely enjoying the sea breezes the same as 
themselves, not knowing that his thoughts are con- 
centrated upon the safety of his hundreds of pas- 
sengers and his precious cargo. 

The potency of mental work. — Only by experi- 



96 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

ence may children come to know that work may be 
mental as well as physical, and the school is charged 
with the responsibility of affording this experience. 
Through experience they will come to know that 
mind transcends matter, and that in life the body 
yields obedience to the behests of the mind. They 
will come to know that mental work is more far- 
reaching than physical work, in that a single mind 
plans the work for a thousand hands. They will 
learn that mental work has redeemed the world from 
its primitive condition and is making life more 
agreeable even if more complex. They will come 
to see the mind busy in its work of tunneling moun- 
tains, building canals and railways, navigating 
oceans, and exploring the sky. They will come to 
realize that mental work has produced our libraries, 
designed our machinery, made our homes more 
comfortable and our fields more fertile. 

Work a blessing. — As a knowledge of all these 
things filters into their minds, their conception of 
life broadens, and they see more and more clearly 
that life and work are fundamentally identical. They 
see that work directs the streams of life and gives 
to life point, potency, and significance. They soon 
see that knowledge is power only because it is the 



WORK AND LIFE 97 

agency that generates power, and that knowledge 
touches life at every point. They will come to 
realize that work is the one great luxury in life, and 
that education is designed to increase the capacity 
for work in order that people may indulge in this 
luxury more abundantly. The more work one can 
do, the more life one has ; and the better the work 
one can do, the higher the quality of that life. They 
learn that the adage " Work to live and live to work " 
is no fiction but a reality. 

Work and enjoyment. — The school, therefore, 
becomes to them a workshop of life, and unless it 
is that, it is not a worthy school. It is not a some- 
thing detached from life, but, rather, an integral 
part of life and therefore a place and an occasion for 
work. The school is the Burning Bush of work 
that is to grow into the Tree of Life. But life ought 
to teem with joy in order to be at its best, and never 
be a drag. Work, therefore, being synonymous with 
life, should be a joyous experience, even though it 
taxes the powers to the utmost. If the child comes 
to the work of the school as the galley-slave goes 
to his task, there is a lack of adjustment and balance 
somewhere, and a readjustment is necessary. It 
matters not that a boy spends two hours over a 



98 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

problem in arithmetic if only he enjoys himself 
during the time. But, if he works two hours merely 
to get a passing grade or to escape punishment, the 
time thus spent does not afford him the pleasure 
that rightfully belongs to him, and some better 
motive should be supplied. 

The teacher's problem. — The teacher's mission 
is not to make school work easy, but, rather, to make 
the hardest work alluring and agreeable. Here, 
again, she may need to take counsel with Tom 
Sawyer. Whitewashing a fence is quite as hard 
work as solving a problem in decimals or cube root. 
Much depends upon the mental attitude of the boy, 
and this in turn depends upon the skill of the teacher 
and her fertility of mind in supplying motives. 
Whitewashing a fence causes the arms to grow weary 
and the back to ache, but the boys recked not of 
that. On the contrary, they clamored for more of 
the same kind of work. This same spirit charac- 
terizes the work of the vitalized school. The pupils 
live as joyously in the schoolroom as they do out- 
side, and the harder the work the greater their joy. 

When work is made a privilege by the expert 
teacher, school procedure becomes well-nigh auto- 
matic and there is never any occasion for nagging, 



WORK AND LIFE 99 

hectoring, or badgering. Such things are abnormal 
in life and no less so in the vitalized school. They 
are a confession on the part of the teacher that she 
has reached the limit of her resources. She admits 
that she cannot do what Tom Sawyer did so well, 
and so proclaims her inability to articulate life and 
work effectively. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Read that chapter of "Tom Sawyer" which deals with 
the whitewashing episode. 

2. What principles of teaching did Tom Sawyer apply? 

3. Discuss, from the pupils' viewpoint, how the study of 
different subjects may be made a privilege. 

4. In accordance with Tom Sawyer pedagogy, discuss plans 
for the formation of the reading habit in pupils. How direct 
the pupils' choice of reading matter? 

5. How would you demonstrate to pupils that mental work 
is more exhausting than manual labor? 

6. Why is work a blessing? How convince an indolent 
pupil of this truth? 

7. State the chief problem of the teacher. 

8. Show that the pedagogical doctrines of this chapter are 
not to be classified under the head of "soft pedagogy." 



CHAPTER X 

WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 

Initial statement. — Life and words are so closely 
interwoven that we have only to study words with 
care in order to achieve an apprehension of life. In- 
deed, education may be defined as the process of 
enlarging, the content of words. No two of us speak 
the same language even though we use the same 
words. The schoolboy and the savant speak of 
education, using the same word, but the boy has only 
the faintest conception of the meaning of the word 
as used by the savant. We must know the content 
of the words that are used before we can understand 
one another, either in speaking or in writing. For 
one man, a word is big with meaning; for another, 
the same word is so small as to be well-nigh meaning- 
less. To the ignorant boor, the word " education " 
means far less than the three R's, while to the scholar 
the word includes languages, ancient and modern, 
mathematics through many volumes, sciences that 
analyze the dewdrop, determine the weight of the 

100 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 101 

earth and the distances and movements of the 
planets, history from the Rosetta Stone to the latest 
presidential election, and philosophy from Plato to 
the scholar of to-day. 

The word " education." — And yet both these 
men spell and pronounce the word alike. The 
ignorant man has only the faintest glimmering of the 
scholar's meaning of the word when he speaks or 
writes it. Still the word is in common use, and 
people who use it are wont to think that their con- 
ception of its meaning is universal. If the boor 
could follow the expansion of the word as it is in- 
vested with greater and greater content, he would, 
in time, understand Aristotle, Shakespeare, Glad- 
stone, and Max Miiller. And, understanding these 
men, he would come to know philosophy, literature, 
and language, and so would come to appreciate more 
fully what education really is. In contemplating 
the expansion of the word, one might easily visualize 
the ever widening circle produced by throwing a 
pebble into a pool ; but a better conception would 
be the expansion of a balloon when it is being in- 
flated. This comparison enables one to realize that 
education enlarges as a sphere rather than as a 
circle. 



102 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The scholar's concept of the sea. — The six-year- 
old can give the correct spelling of the word sea as 
readily as the sage, but the sage has spent a lifetime 
in putting content into the word. For him, the word 
epitomizes his life history. Through its magic lead- 
ing he retraces his journeys through physiography 
and geology, watching the sea wear away two thou- 
sand feet of the Appalachian Mountains and spread 
the detritus over vast areas, making the great fertile 
corn and wheat belt of our country. He knows 
that this section produces, annually, such a quantity 
of corn as would require for transportation a pro- 
cession of teams that would encircle the earth nine 
times, at the equator, and he interprets all this as 
sea. The word leads him, also, through the mazes 
and mysteries of meteorology, revealing to him the 
origin of the rain, the snow, the dew, and the frost, 
with all the wonders of evaporation, condensation, 
and precipitation. 

Further illustration. — He can discern the sea in 
every blade of grass, in every leaf, and in every 
flower. In the composition of his own body, he 
finds that ninety per cent of it is sea. He finds his 
heart pumping the sea through his veins and arteries 
as a vital part of the life process ; and through the 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 103 

power of capillary attraction, the sea is coursing 
through every hair of his head. In the food upon 
his table, the meat, the bread, the milk, the vegeta- 
bles, and the fruits, he finds the sea. Not his poetry, 
but his science follows the raindrop from the roof 
to the rivulet, on to the river, then to the ocean, then 
into vapor and on into rain down into the earth, 
then up into the tree, out into the orange, until it 
finally reappears as a drop of juice upon the rosy lip 
of his little six-year-old. 

The child's conception. — Whether the child ever 
wins the large conception of the sea that her father 
has depends, in part, upon the father himself, but, 
in a still larger degree, upon her teacher. If the 
teacher thinks of the sea merely as a word to be 
spelled, or defined, or parsed, that she may inscribe 
marks in a grade book or on report cards, then the 
child will never know the sea as her father knows it, 
unless this knowledge comes to her from sources 
outside the school. Instead of becoming a living 
thing and the source of life, her sea will be a desert 
without oasis, or grass, or tree, or bird, or bubbling 
spring to refresh and inspire. It would seem a sad 
commentary upon our teaching if the child is com- 
pelled to gain a right conception of the sea outside 



104 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

the school and in spite of the school, rather than 
through and by means of the school. 

The quest of teacher and child. — The vitalized 
teacher knows the sea as the sage knows it, and can 
infuse her conception into the consciousness of the 
child. She feels it to be her high privilege to lead 
the child on in quest of the sea and to find, in this 
quest, pulsating life. In this alluring quest, she is 
putting content into the word, and thus discovering, 
by experience, what life is. This is education. This is 
the inviting vista that stretches out before the eyes 
of the child under the spell and leadership of such a 
teacher. In their quest for the meaning of the sea, 
these companions, the child and the teacher, will 
come upon the fields of grain, the orchards, the flocks 
and herds, the ships, the trains, and the whole in- 
tricate world of commerce. They will find commerce 
to be a manifestation of the sea and moreover a big 
factor in life. It will mean far more than mere cars 
to be counted or cargoes to be estimated in the form 
of problems for the class in arithmetic. The cargoes 
of grain that they see leaving the port mean food 
for the hungry in other lands, and the joy and vigor 
that only food can give. 

The sea as life. — At every turn of their ramified 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 105 

journey, these learners find life and, best of all, are 
having a rich experience in life, throughout the 
journey. They are immersed in life and so are 
absorbing life all the while. Wider and wider be- 
comes their conception of life as exemplified by the 
sea, and their capacity for life is ever increasing. 
Day by day they ascend to higher levels and find their 
horizon receding farther and farther. For them, life 
enlarges until it embraces all lands, the arts, the 
sciences, the languages, and all history. Whether 
they pursue the sea into the mountains ; to the 
steppes, plateaus, or pampas; to the palace or the 
hovel ; to the tropics or the poles, — they find it ever- 
more representing life. 

The word " automobile." — It would seem to be 
quite possible to construct a twelve-year course of 
study based upon this sort of study of words and 
their content with special emphasis upon the con- 
tent. Since life is conterminous with the content 
of the words that constitute one's vocabulary, it is 
evident that the content of words becomes of major 
importance in the scheme of education. To be able 
to spell the word "automobile" will not carry a young 
man very far in his efforts to qualify as a chauffeur, 
important though the spelling may be. As a mere 



106 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

beginning, the spelling is essential, but it is not 
enough. Still the child thinks that his education, 
so far as this word is concerned, is complete when 
he can spell it correctly, and carry home a perfect 
grade. No one will employ the young man as a 
driver until he has put content into the word, and 
this requires time and hard work. He must know 
the mechanism of the machine, in every detail, and 
the articulation of all its parts. He must be able 
to locate trouble on the instant and be able to apply 
the remedy. He must be sensitive to every 
slightest sound that indicates imperfect functioning. 
This, of course, carries far beyond the mere spelling 
of the word, but all this is essential to the safety of 
his passengers. 

Etymology. — Etymology has its place, of course, 
in the study of words, but it stops short of the goal. 
It may be well to take the watch apart in order to 
make an examination of its parts, but until it is re- 
constituted and set going, it is useless as a watch. 
So with a word. We may give its etymology and 
rhapsodize over its parts, but thus analyzed it is 
an inert thing and really inane so far as real service 
is concerned. If word study does not carry beyond 
the mere analysis, it is futile as a real educative 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 107 

process. To be really effective, the word must be 
instinct with life and busy in the affairs of life, and 
not a mere specimen in a museum. Too often our 
work in etymology seems to be considered an end in 
itself, rather than a means to an end. 

The word in use. — Arlo Bates says that the word 
"highly" in the Gettysburg Speech is the most ornate 
word in the language in the setting that Lincoln gave 
it. The merest tyro can give its etymology, but only 
when it was set to work by a master did it gain 
potency and distinction. The etymology of the word 
" fidelity " is reasonably easy, but this analysis is 
powerless to cause the child to thrill at the story of 
Casabianca, or of Ruth and Naomi, or of Esther, or 
Antigone, or Cordelia, or Nathan Hale, or the little 
Japanese girl who deliberately bit through her tongue 
that she might not utter a syllable that would 
jeopardize the interests or safety of her father. 
The word analyzed is a dead thing ; the word in 
use is a living thing. The word merely analyzed is 
apt to be ephemeral ; the word in use is abiding 
and increasingly significant. As the child puts 
more and more content into the word, he, himself, 
expands at the same rate in the scope and power of 
his thinking. Words are the materials out of which 



108 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

he weaves the fabric of life, and the pattern depends 
upon the content of his words. 

Illustrations from art. — The child can spell the 
word "art" and can repeat the words of the book by 
way of a memorized definition, but he cannot define 
the word with even a fair degree of intelligence. 
He cannot know the meaning of the word until its 
significance becomes objectified in his life processes. 
This requires time, and thought, and experiences 
with books, with people, and with galleries. In 
short, he must live art before he can define the word ; 
and his living art invests the word with content. 
The word will grow just as he grows in his conception 
of art. At first, he may denominate as art the simple 
little daubs of pictures that he makes with the 
teacher's hand guiding his brush. But, later on, 
as he gains a larger conception, these things will 
appear puerile if not silly. The time may come 
when he can read the thoughts of the masters as 
expressed in their masterpieces. Then, and only 
then, will he be able to define the word. 

Michael Angelo. — At the age of fifteen, Michael 
Angelo wrought the Mask of the Satyr, which would 
not be considered a work of art if that were the only 
product of his chisel. What he did later was the 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 109 

fulfillment of the prophecy embodied in the Mask. 
At the age of eighty, he produced the Descent from 
the Cross, which glorifies the Duomo in Florence. 
In between these productions, we find his David, 
his Moses, the Sistine Ceiling, with many others 
scarcely less notable. He rose to a higher and higher 
conception of art as he lived art more and more fully, 
and his execution kept pace with the expansion of 
his conception. He gave content to the word both 
for himself and for the world until now we associate, 
in our thinking, art with his name. He himself is 
now, in large measure, our definition of art — and 
that because he lived art. 

The child's conception of truth. — In his re- 
stricted conception, the boy conceives truth to be 
the mere absence of peccadillos. He thinks that his 
denial of the charge that he was impolite to his 
sister, or that he went on a foraging expedition to 
the pantry, is the whole truth and, indeed, all there 
is to truth. It requires a whole lifetime to realize 
the full magnitude of his misconception. In the 
vitalized school, he finds himself busy all day long 
trying to find answer to the question : What is 
Truth ? In the Alps, there is a place called Echo 
Glen where a thousand rocks, cliffs, and crags send 



110 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

back to the speaker the words he utters. So, when 
this boy asks What is Truth? a thousand voices in 
the school and outside the school repeat the question 
to him : What is Truth ? Abraham Lincoln tried to 
find the answer as he figured on the bit of board with 
a piece of charcoal by the firelight. Later on, he 
wrote the Emancipation Proclamation, and in both 
exercises he was seeking for the meaning of truth. 

The work of the school. — Christopher Columbus 
was doing the same thing in his quest, and thought 
no hardship too great if he could only come upon 
the answer. Galileo, Huxley, Newton, Tyndall, 
Humboldt, Darwin, Edison, and Burbank are only 
the schoolboys grown large in their search for the 
meaning of truth. They have enlarged the content 
of the word for us all, and by following their lead 
we may attain to their answers. Every school study 
gives forth a partial answer, and the sum of all these 
answers constitutes the answer which the boy is 
seeking. Mathematics tells part of the story, but 
not all of it; science tells another part, but not all 
of it; history tells still another part, but not all of 
it. Hence, it may be reiterated that one of the prime 
functions of the vitalized school is to invest words 
with the largest possible content. 



WORDS AND THEIR CONTENT 111 

Questions and Exercises 

1. To what extent is education the process of enlarging the 
content of words ? 

2. As a concrete illustration of the differences in the 
content of words, compare various definitions of education. 
Choose typical definitions of education to reflect the ideas of 
different educational periods. 

3. Suggest other methods than the use of the dictionary for 
the enlargement of the pupil's content of words. 

4. How may words be vitalized in composition ? 

5. Should the chief aim of language work in the grades be 
force, accuracy, or elegance in the use of language ? 

6. Add to the author's list of words, other words the con- 
tent of which may be expanded by education. 

7. How may the vitalized teacher encourage in pupils the 
formation of habits of careful diction ? 

8. How remove unnatural stilted words and expressions 
from the oral and written expressions of pupils ? 



CHAPTER XI 

COMPLETE LIVING 

The question raised. — That education is a 
preparation for complete living has been quoted 
by every teacher who lays any sort of claim to 
the standard definitions. Indeed, so often and 
so glibly has the quotation been made that it is 
well-nigh axiomatic and altogether trite. But we 
still await any clear explanation of what is meant 
by complete living. On this point we are still 
groping, with no prophetic voice to tell us the 
way. By implication we have had hints, and 
much has been said on the negative side, but the 
positive side still lies fallow. When asked for 
an explanation, those who give the quotation re- 
sort to circumlocution and, at length, give another 
definition of education, apparently conscious of 
the mathematical dictum that things that are 
equal to the same thing are equal to each other. 
So we continue to travel in a circle, with but feeble 
attempts to deviate from the course. 

112 



COMPLETE LIVING 113 

The vitalized school an exemplification. — Nor 
will this chapter attempt to resolve the difficult 
situation in which we are placed. It is not easy 
to define living, much less complete living. All 
that is hoped for here is to bring the matter to 
the attention of all teachers and to cause them to 
realize that the quest for a definition of complete 
living will be for them and for their pupils an ex- 
hilarating experience. The vitalized school will 
belie its name if it does not strive toward a solu- 
tion of the difficulty, and any school that approxi- 
mates a satisfactory definition will be proclaimed 
a public benefactor. In fact, the school cannot 
lay claim to the distinction of being vitalized if it 
fails to exemplify complete living, in some appre- 
ciable degree, and if it fails to groove this sort of 
living into a habit that will persist throughout the 
years. This is the big task that the school must 
essay if it would emancipate itself from the tram- 
mels of tradition and become a leader in the larger, 
better way. Complete living must become the ideal 
of the school if it would realize the conception of 
education of which it is a professed exponent. 

Incomplete living. — The man who walks with a 
crutch ; the man who is afflicted with a felon ; the 



114 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

man who lacks a hand or even a finger, — cannot 
experience complete living. Through the power of 
adaptation the man with a crutch may compass 
more difficult situations than the man with sound 
legs will attempt, but he cannot realize all the 
possibilities of life that a sound body would vouch- 
safe to him. The man without hands may learn 
to write with his toes, but he is not employed as 
a teacher of penmanship. His life is a restricted 
one and, therefore, less than complete. We marvel 
at the exhibitions of skill displayed by the maimed, 
but we feel no envy. We may not be able to 
duplicate their achievements, but we feel that we 
have ample compensation in the normal use of our 
members. We know instinctively that, in the 
solitude of their meditations, they must experience 
poignant regrets that they are not as other people, 
and that they must pass through life under a handi- 
cap. 

The sound body. — It is evident, therefore, that 
soundness of body is a condition precedent to com- 
plete living. The body is the organism by means 
of which the mind and the spirit function in terms 
of life ; and, if this organism is imperfect, the func- 
tioning will prove less than complete. Hence, it 



COMPLETE LIVING 115 

is the province of the school to so organize all its 
activities that the physical powers of the pupils 
shall be fully conserved. The president of a large 
university says that during his incumbency of 
seventeen years they have found only one young 
woman of physical perfection and not a single 
young man, although the tests have been applied 
to thousands. College students, it will be readily 
conceded, are a selected group; and yet even in 
such a group not a physically perfect young man 
was found in tests extending over seventeen years. 
If a like condition should be discovered in the 
scoring of live stock at our fairs, there would ensue 
a careful investigation of causes in the hope of 
finding a remedy. 

Personal efficiency. — We shall not achieve na- 
tional efficiency until every citizen has achieved 
personal efficiency, and physical fitness is one of 
the fundamental conditions precedent to personal 
efficiency. Here we have the blue print for the 
guidance of society and the school. If we are ever 
to achieve national efficiency, we must see to it 
that every man and woman, every boy and girl, 
has a strong, healthy body that is fully able to 
execute the behests of mind and spirit. This may 



116 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

require a stricter censorship of marriage licenses, 
including physical examinations ; it may require 
more stringent laws on our statute books ; it may 
require radical changes in our methods of physical 
training ; and it may require the state to assume 
some of the functions of the home when the home 
reveals its inability or unwillingness to cope with 
the situation. Heroic treatment may be neces- 
sary ; but until we as a people have the courage to 
apply the remedies that the diagnosis shows to be 
necessary, we shall look in vain for improvement. 

Physical training. — Seeing that it is so difficult 
to find a man or a woman among our people who 
has attained physical perfection, it behooves society 
and the schools to take a critical inventory of their 
methods of physical training and their meager 
accomplishments as a preliminary survey looking 
to a change in our procedure. We seem to have 
delegated scientific physical training to athletics 
and pugilism, with but scant concern for our people 
as a whole. If pink-tea calisthenics as practiced 
mildly in our schools has failed to produce robust 
bodies, then it is incumbent upon us to adopt a 
regime of beefsteak. What the traditional school 
has failed to do the vitalized school must attempt 



COMPLETE LIVING 117 

to do or suffer the humiliation of striking its colors. 
There is no middle course ; it must either win a 
victory or admit defeat in common with the tradi- 
tional school. The standard is high, of course, 
but every standard of the vitalized school is and 
ought to be high. 

Cigarettes. — If the use of cigarettes is devitaliz- 
ing our boys, and this can be determined, then the 
manufacture and sale must be prohibited unless our 
legislative bodies would plead guilty to the charge 
of impotence. But we are told that public senti- 
ment conditions the enactment of laws. If such 
be the case, then the school and its auxiliaries 
should feel it a duty to generate public sentiment. 
If cigarettes are harmful, then they should be 
banished, and the task is not an impossible one 
by any means. As to the injurious effects of ciga- 
rettes, as distinguished an authority as Thomas A. 
Edison says the following : 

' The injurious agent in cigarettes comes prin- 
cipally from the burning paper wrapper. The 
substance thereby formed is called ' acrolein.' It 
has a violent action on the nerve centers, producing 
degeneration of the cells of the brain, which is 
quite rapid among boys. Unlike most narcotics, 
this degeneration is permanent and uncontrollable. 
I employ no person who smokes cigarettes." 



118 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

We have eliminated dangerous explosives from our 
Fourth of July celebrations, and the ban can as 
easily be placed upon any other dangerous product. 
Just here we inevitably meet the cry of paternalism, 
but we shall always be confronted by the question 
to what extent the government should stand aside 
and see its citizens follow the bent of their appetites 
and passions over the brink of destruction. It is 
the inherent right of government to maintain its 
own integrity, and this it can do only through the 
conservation of the powers of its citizens. If 
paternalism is necessary to this end, then paternal- 
ism is a governmental virtue. Better, by far, some 
paternalism than a race of weaklings. 

Military training. — We may shrink away from 
military training in the schools, just as we shrink 
from the regime of pugilism ; but we may profit by 
observing both these types of training in our efforts 
to develop some method of training that will render 
our young people physically fit. We need some 
type of training that will eliminate round and 
drooping shoulders, weak chests, shambling gait, 
sluggish circulation, and shallow breathing. The 
boys and girls need to be, first of all, healthy ani- 
mals with large powers of endurance, elastic, buoy- 



COMPLETE LIVING 119 

ant, graceful, and in general well set up. These 
conditions constitute the foundation for the super- 
structure of education. The placid, anaemic, fiber- 
less child is ill prepared in physique to attain to 
that mastery of the mental and spiritual world 
that makes for an approximation to complete 
living. 

Examples cited. — If one will but make a mental 
appraisement of the first one hundred people he 
meets, he will see among the number quite a few 
who reveal a lack of physical vigor. They droop 
and slouch along and seem to be dragging their 
bodies instead of being propelled through space by 
their bodies. They can neither stand nor walk as 
a human being ought to stand and walk, and their 
entire ensemble is altogether unbeautiful. We feel 
instinctively that, being fashioned in the image of 
their Maker, they have sadly declined from their 
high estate. Their bodily attitude seems a sort 
of apology for life, and we long to invoke the aid 
of some teacher of physical training to rescue them 
from themselves and restore them to their rightful 
heritage. They are weak, apparently ill-nourished, 
scrawny, ill-groomed; and we know, without the 
aid of words, that neither a vigorous mind nor a 



120 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

great spirit would choose that type of body as its 
habitation. 

The body subject to the mind. — A healthy, 
vigorous, symmetrical body that performs all its 
functions like a well-articulated, well-adjusted 
mechanism is the beginning, but only a beginning. 
Next comes a mind that is so well trained that it 
knows what orders to give to the body and how to 
give them. Many a strong body enters the door 
of a saloon because the mind is not sufficiently 
trained to issue wise orders. The mind was be- 
fuddled before the body became so, and the body 
becomes so only because the mind commands. 
Intoxication, primarily, is a mental apostasy, and 
the body cannot do otherwise than obey. If the 
mind were intent upon securing a book at the 
library, the body would not have seen the door of 
the saloon, but would have been urgent to reach 
the library. There is neither fiction nor facetious- 
ness in the adage, " An idle brain is the devil's 
workshop." On the contrary, the saying is crammed 
full of psychology for the thoughtful observer. 
Hence, when we are training the mind we are wreak- 
ing destruction upon this workshop. 

Freedom a condition precedent. — Complete liv- 



COMPLETE LIVING 121 

ing is impossible outside the domain of freedom. 
The prisons show forth no examples of complete 
living. But mental thralldom is quite as inimical 
to complete living as thralldom of the body. The 
mind must know in order to move among the things 
of life in freedom. Ignorance is slavery. The 
mind that is unable to read the inscription on a 
monument stands baffled and helpless, and no form 
of slavery can be more abject. The man who can- 
not read the bill of fare of life is in no position to 
revel in the good things that life offers. The man 
who cannot read the signboards of life gropes and 
flounders about in the byways and so misses the 
charms. If he knows the way, he has freedom ; 
otherwise he is in thralldom. The man who cannot 
interpret life as it shows itself in hill, in valley, in 
stream and rock and tree, goes through life with band- 
aged eyes, and that condition affords no freedom. 

Street signs. — A man who had been traveling 
through Europe for several weeks, and had finally 
reached London, wrote enthusiastically of his pleas- 
ure at being able to read the street signs. All 
summer he had felt restricted and hampered, but 
when he reached a country where the street signs 
were intelligible, he gained his freedom. Had he 



122 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

been as familiar with Italian, German, and French 
as he is with English, life would have been for him 
far more nearly complete during that summer and 
therefore much more agreeable and fertile. There 
is no more exhilarating experience than to be able 
to read the street signs along the highway of life, 
and this ability is one of the great objectives of 
every vitalized school. 

Trained minds. — Nature reveals her inmost 
secrets only to the trained mind. No power can 
force her, no wealth can bribe her, to disclose these 
secrets to others. Only the mind that is trained 
can gain admission to her treasure house to revel 
in its glories. John Burroughs lives in a world 
that the ignorant man cannot know. The trained 
mind alone has the key that will unlock libraries, 
art galleries, the treasure houses of science, 
language, history, and art. The untrained minds 
must stand outside and win what comfort they 
can from their wealth, their social status, or what- 
ever else they would fain substitute for the train- 
ing that would admit them. All these things are 
parts of life, and those who cannot gain admission 
to these conservatories of knowledge cannot know 
life in its completeness. 



COMPLETE LIVING 123 

Achievements of trained minds. — In order to 
know life in the large, the mind must be able to 
leap from the multiplication table to the stars ; 
must become intimate with the movements of the 
tides, the glacier, and the planets ; must translate 
the bubbling fountain and the eruption of Vesuvius ; 
must be able to interpret the whisper of the zephyr 
and the diapason of the forest ; must be able to 
hear music in the chirp of the cricket as well as 
in the oratorios ; must be able to delve into the 
recesses of the mine and scale the mountain tops ; 
must know the heart throbs of Little Nell as well 
as of Cicero and Demosthenes ; must be able to 
see the processions of history from the cradle of the 
race to the latest proclamation ; and must sit in 
the councils of the poets, the statesmen, the orators, 
the artists, the scientists, and the historians of all 
time. A mind thus trained can enter into the very 
heart of life and know it by experience. 

Things of the spirit. — But education is a spirit- 
ual process, as we have been told; and, therefore, 
education is without value unless it touches the 
spirit. Indeed, it is only by the spirit that we may 
test the quality of education. It is spirit that sets 
metes and bounds and points the way to the fine 



124 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

things of life. A man may live in the back alley 
of life or on the boulevard, according to the dic- 
tates of the spirit. If his spirit cannot react to 
the finer things, his way will lie among the coarse 
and bizarre. If he cannot appreciate the glory 
that is revealed upon the mountain, he will gravi- 
tate to the lower levels. If his spirit is not attuned 
to majestic harmonies, he will drift down to associa- 
tion with his own kind. If he cannot thrill with 
pleasure at the beauty and fragrance of the lily of 
the valley, he will seek out the gaudy sunflower. 
If his spirit cannot rise to the plane of Shakespeare 
and Victor Hugo, he will roam into fields that are 
less fruitful. The spirit that is rightly attuned lifts 
him away from the sordid into the realms of the 
chaste and the glorified ; away from the coarse 
and ugly into the realm of things that are fine and 
beautiful ; and away from the things that are 
mean and petty into the zone of the big, the true, 
the noble, and the good. And so with body, mind, 
and spirit thus doing their perfect work, he can, 
at least, look over into the promised land of com- 
plete living. 

Altruism. — We are commanded to let our light 
shine, and this command is a noble and an inspiring 



COMPLETE LIVING 125 

one. A man who by such training as has been 
depicted approximates complete living is prepared 
to let his light shine primarily because he has light, 
and in the next place because his training has made 
him generous in spirit and altruistic ; and his great- 
est joy comes from letting his light so shine that 
others may catch his spirit and move up to higher 
planes of living. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Why is education not satisfactorily defined by saying 
that it is a preparation for complete living ? Who first stated 
this definition? 

2. What is the relation of the school to complete living ? 

3. What further training should the school give in better 
living than to teach the pupils what it is ? 

4. Give an idea of what is meant by incomplete living so 
far as the body is concerned. 

5. Show that soundness of body is necessary to realize 
one's best. 

6. What are some reasons for the scarcity of physically 
perfect men and women? 

7. Have we been able to eliminate physical defects and de- 
velop physical merits in people to the same extent that we 
have in domestic animals ? 

8. What are some of the things that have been done to 
improve physical man ? Which of these have to do primarily 
with heredity and which with rearing or training ? 

9. Why is the possession of healthy bodies a matter of 
national concern? 



126 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

10. Wherein does physical training seem to have failed to 
attain its ends ? 

11. What are the arguments, from the standpoint of the 
physically efficient life, for the regulation or prohibition by the 
government of the sale of injurious products? 

12. What are the benefits of such a type of training as 
military training? 

13. Show how the lack of proper training of the mind may 
result in a less efficient body. 

14. In our present civilization what conditions may give 
rise to mental thralldom? Upon what is mental freedom 
conditioned ? 

15. How can the trained mind get the most out of life and 
contribute the most to it? 

16. Explain how the spirit is the dominant element in com- 
plete living. 

17. Why is one who is living the complete life sure to be 
altruistic ? 



CHAPTER XII 

THE TIME ELEMENT 

The question stated. — There are many, doubt- 
less, who will deny, if not actually resent, the state- 
ment that some do more real teaching in ten minutes 
than others do in thirty minutes. But, in spite of 
denials, the statement can be verified by the testi- 
mony of a host of expert observers and supervisors. 
Indeed, stenographic reports have been made of 
many class exercises by way of testing the truth 
of this statement, and these reports are a matter 
of record. Assuming the validity of the statement, 
therefore, it is pertinent to inquire into the causes 
that underlie the disparity in the teaching ability 
of the ten-minute teacher and the thirty-minute 
teacher. The efficiency expert would be quick to 
seize upon this disparity in the rate of progress 
as the starting point in his critical examination. 
In a factory a like disparity would lead to un- 
pleasant consequences. The workman who con- 
sumes thirty minutes in accomplishing a piece of 

127 



128 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

work that another does in ten minutes would be 
admonished to accelerate his progress or else give 
way to a more efficient man. If we had instruments 
of sufficient delicacy to test the results of teaching, 
we should probably discover that the output of 
the ten-minute teacher is superior in quality to 
that of the thirty-minute teacher. For we must 
all have observed in our own experience that the 
clarity of our thinking depends upon its intensity. 

Examples. — A young man who won distinction 
as a college student had a wide shelf fitted up on 
one side of his room at which he stood in the prepa- 
ration of all his lessons. His theory was that the 
attitude of the body conditions the attitude of the 
mind. Professor James gives assent to this theory 
and avers that an attitude of mind may be gener- 
ated by placing the body in such an attitude as 
would naturally accompany this mental attitude. 
This theory proclaims that, if the body is slouch- 
ing, the mind will slouch ; but that, if the body is 
alert, the mind will be equally so. Another college 
student always walked to and fro in his room when 
preparing his history lesson. A fine old lady, in a 
work of fiction, explained her mental acumen by 
the single statement, " I never slouch." Every 



THE TIME ELEMENT 129 

person must have observed many exemplifications 
of this theory in his own experience even if he has 
not reduced it to a working formula. 

Basic considerations. — Any consideration of the 
time element, in school work, must take into ac- 
count, therefore, not only the number of minutes 
involved in a given piece of work, but also the in- 
tensity of effort during those minutes. Two 
minds, of equal natural strength, may be fully 
employed during a given period and yet show a 
wide difference in the quality and quantity of the 
results. The one may be busy all the while but 
slouch through the minutes. The other may be 
taut and intensive, working at white heat, and the 
output will be more extensive and of better quality. 
The mind that ambles through the period shows 
forth results that are both meager and mediocre; 
but the mind whose impact is both forceful and 
incisive produces results that serve to magnify 
the work of the school. Thus we have placed before 
us two basic considerations, one of which is the 
time itself, in actual minutes, and the other is the 
character of the reactions to external stimuli during 
those minutes. 

Two teachers compared. — In order to consider 



130 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

these factors of the teaching process with some 
degree of definiteness it will be well to have the 
ten-minute teacher and the thirty-minute teacher 
placed in juxtaposition in our thinking. We shall 
thus be able to compare and contrast and so arrive 
at some clear judgments that may be used as a 
basis for generalizations. We may assume, for 
convenience and for concreteness, that the lesson 
is division of fractions. There will be substantial 
agreement that the principle involved in this sub- 
ject can be taught in one recitation period. The 
reasons for some of the steps in the process may 
come later, but the child should be able to find his 
way to the correct answer in a single period. Now 
if one teacher can achieve this result in thirty 
minutes and the other in ten minutes, there is a 
disparity in the effectiveness of the work of these 
teachers which is worthy of serious consideration. 
The ten-minute teacher proves that the thirty- 
minute teacher has consumed twenty minutes of 
somebody's time unnecessarily. If the salary of 
this thirty-minute teacher should be reduced to 
one third its present amount, she would inveigh 
against the reduction. 

School and factory compared. — If she were one 



THE TIME ELEMENT 131 

of the operators in a factory, she would not escape 
with the mere penalization of a salary reduction. 
The owner would argue that he needed some one 
who could operate the machine up to its full capacity, 
and that, even if she should work without salary, 
her presence in the factory would entail a loss in 
that the output of her machine was so meager. If 
one operator can produce a shoe in ten minutes 
and the other requires thirty minutes for the same 
work, the money that is invested in the one machine 
pays dividends, while the other machine imposes 
a continuous tax upon the owner. This, of course, 
will be recognized as the line of argument of the 
efficiency expert, but it certainly is not out of place 
to call attention to the matter in connection with 
school work. The subject of efficiency is quite 
within the province of the school, and it would seem 
to be wholly within reason for the school to exemplify 
its own teachings. 

Appraisal of teaching expertness. — The teacher 
who requires thirty minutes for division of fractions 
which the other teacher compasses in ten minutes 
consumes twenty minutes unnecessarily in each 
recitation period, or two hundred minutes in the 
course of the day. The efficiency expert would ask 



132 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

her to account for these two hundred minutes. 
In order to account for them satisfactorily she 
would be compelled to take an inventory of her 
acquired habits, her predilections, her attitude to- 
ward her pupils and her subjects, and any short- 
comings she may have in regard to methods of 
teaching. She would, at first, resent the implica- 
tion that the other teacher's method of teaching 
division of fractions is better than her own and 
would cite the many years during which her method 
has been used. When all else fails, tradition always 
proves a convenient refuge. We can always prove 
to-day by yesterday; only, by so doing, we deny 
the possibility of progress. 

The potency of right methods. — A teacher of 
Latin once used twenty minutes in a violent attempt 
to explain the difference between the gerund con- 
struction and the gerundive construction. At the 
end of the time she had the pupils so completely 
muddled that, for months, the appearance of either 
of these constructions threw them into a condition 
of panic. To another class, later, this teacher ex- 
plained these constructions clearly and convincingly 
in three minutes. In the meantime she had studied 
methods in connection with subject matter. 



THE TIME ELEMENT 133 

Another teacher resigned her position and explained 
her action by confessing that she had become so 
accustomed to the traditional methods of teaching 
a certain phase of arithmetic that it was impossible 
for her to learn the newer one. Such a teacher must 
be given credit for honesty even while she illustrates 
tragedy. 

The waste of time. — In explaining the loss of 
two hundred minutes a day the teacher will inevi- 
tably come upon the subject of methods of teaching, 
and she may be put to it to justify her method in 
view of its results. The more diligently she tries 
to justify her method, the more certainly she pro- 
claims her responsibility for a wrong use of the 
method. Those twenty minutes point at her the 
accusing finger, and she can neither blink nor es- 
cape the facts. The other teacher led her pupils 
into a knowledge of the subject in ten minutes, and 
this one may neither abrogate nor amend the record. 
As an operative in the factory she holds in her hand 
one shoe as the result of her thirty minutes while 
the other holds three. Conceding that results in 
the school are not so tangible as the results in the 
factory, still we have developed methods of estimat- 
ing results in the school that have convincing weight 



134 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

with the efficiency expert. We can estimate results 
in school work with sufficient accuracy to enable us 
to assess teaching values with a goodly degree of 
discrimination. 

Possibilities. — It would be a comparatively 
simple matter to compute in days and weeks the 
time lost during the year by the thirty-minute 
teacher, and then estimate the many things that 
the pupils could accomplish in that time. If the 
thirty-minute teacher could be transformed into 
a ten-minute teacher, the children could have three 
more hours each day for play, and that would be 
far better for them than the ordeal of sitting there 
in the class, the unwilling witnesses, or victims, 
of the time-wasting process. Or they might read 
a book in the two hundred minutes and that would 
be more enjoyable, and the number of books thus 
read in the course of a year would aggregate quite 
a library. Or, again, they might take some addi- 
tional studies and so make great gains in mental 
achievements in their twelve years of school life. 
Or they might learn to work with their hands and 
so achieve self-reliance, self-support, and self-respect. 

Conservation. — In a word, there is no higher 
type of conservation than the conservation of 



THE TIME ELEMENT 135 

childhood, in terms of time and interest. The two 
hundred minutes a day are a vital factor in the life 
of the child and must be regarded as highly valuable. 
The teacher, therefore, who subtracts this time 
from the child's life is assuming a responsibility not 
to be lightly esteemed. She takes from him his 
most valuable possession and one which she can 
never return, try as she may. Worst of all, she 
purloins this element of time clandestinely, albeit 
seductively, in the guise of friendship. The child 
does not know that he is the victim of unfair treat- 
ment until it is too late to set up any defense. He 
is made to think that that is the natural and, there- 
fore, only way of school, and that he must take 
things as they come if he is to prove himself a good 
soldier. So he musters what heroism he can and 
tries to smile while the teacher despoils him of the 
minutes he might better be employing in play, in 
reading, or in work. 

The teacher's complacency. — This would seem 
a severe indictment if it were incapable of proof, but 
having been proved by incontrovertible evidence 
its severity cannot be mitigated. We can only 
grieve that the facts are as they are and ardently 
hope for a speedy change. The chief obstacle in 



136 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

the way of improvement is the complacency of the 
teacher. Habits tend to persist, and if she has 
contracted the habit of much speaking, she thinks 
her volubility should be accounted a virtue and 
wonders that the children do not applaud the 
bromidic platitudes which have been uttered in the 
same form and in the same tones a hundred times. 
She is so intoxicated with her own verbosity that 
she can neither listen to the sounds of her own 
voice nor analyze her own utterances. While her 
neighbor is teaching she is talking, and then with 
sublime nonchalance she ascribes the retardation 
of her pupils to their own dullness and never, in 
any least degree, to her own unprofitable use of 
their time. 

The voluble teacher. — And while she rambles 
on in her aimless talking the children are bored, 
inexpressibly bored. It is axiomatic that the learn- 
ing process does not flourish in a state of boredom. 
Under the ordeal of verbal inundation the children 
wriggle and squirm about in their seats and this 
affords her a new point of attack. She calls them 
ill-bred and unmannerly and wonders at the homes 
that can produce such children. She does not 
realize that if these children were grown-ups they 



THE TIME ELEMENT 137 

would leave the room regardless of consequences. 
When they yawn, she reminds them of the utter 
futility of casting pearls before swine. All the 
while the twenty minutes are going and the pupils 
have not yet learned how to divide fractions. Over 
in the next room the pupils know full well how to 
divide fractions and the teacher is rewarding their 
diligence with a cookie in the form of a story, while 
they wait for the bell to ring. Out of the room of 
the thirty-minute teacher come the children glower- 
ing and resentful ; out of the other room the children 
come buoyant and happy. 

The test of teaching. — Not alone did the former 
teacher use the time of her pupils for her own ends, 
but, even more, she dulled their interest, and the 
damage thus inflicted cannot be estimated. Many 
a child has deserted the school because the teacher 
made school life disagreeable. She was the wet 
blanket upon his enthusiasm and chilled him to 
the marrow when he failed to go forward upon her 
traditional track. The teacher who can generate 
in the minds of her pupils a spiritual ignition by her 
every movement and word will not be humiliated 
by desertions. Indeed, the test of the teacher is 
the mental attitude of her pupils. The child who 






138 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

drags and drawls through the lesson convicts the 
teacher of a want of expertness. On the other 
hand, when the pupils are all wide-awake, alert, 
animated, eager to respond, and dynamic, we know 
that the teacher has brought this condition to pass 
and that she is a ten-minute teacher. 

Meaningless formalities. — One of the influences 
that tends to deaden the interest of children is the 
ponderous formality that sometimes obtains. The 
teacher solemnly calls the roll, although she can see 
at a glance that there are no absentees. This is 
exceedingly irksome to wide-awake boys and girls 
who are avid for variety. The same monotonous 
calling of the roll day after day with no semblance 
of variation induces in them a sort of mental dyspep- 
sia for which they seek an antidote in what the 
teacher denominates disorder. This so-called dis- 
order betokens good health on their part and is a 
revelation of the fact that they have a keen ap- 
preciation of the fitness of things. They cannot 
brook monotony and it irks them to dawdle about 
in the anteroom of action. They are eager to do 
their work if only the teacher will get right at it. 
But they are impatient of meaningless preliminaries. 
They see no sense in calling the roll when everybody 



THE TIME ELEMENT 139 

is present and discredit the teacher who persists in 
the practice. 

Repeating answers. — Still another characteristic 
of the thirty -minute teacher is her habit of repeating 
the answers that pupils give, with the addition of 
some inane comment. Whether this repeating of 
answers is merely a bad habit or an effort on the 
part of the teacher to appropriate to herself the 
credit that should otherwise accrue to the pupils, 
it is not easy to say. Certain it is that school 
inspectors inveigh against the practice mightily as 
militating against the effectiveness of the teaching. 
Teachers who have been challenged on this point 
make a weak confession that they repeat the answers 
unconsciously. They thus make the fatal admis- 
sion that for a part of the time of the class exercise 
they do not know what they are doing, and admitting 
so much we can readily classify them as belonging 
among the thirty-minute teachers. 

Meanderings. — Another characteristic is her tend- 
ency to wander away from the direct line and 
ramble about among irrelevant and inconsequential 
trifles. Sometimes these rambles are altogether 
entertaining and enable her pupils to pass the time 
pleasantly, but they lack " terminal facilities." They 



140 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

lead from nowhere to nowhere in the most fascinat- 
ing and fruitless meanderings. Such expeditions 
bring back no emoluments. They leave a pleasant 
taste in the mouth but afford no nourishment. 
They use the time but exact no dividends. Like 
sheet lightning they are beautiful but never strike 
anything. They are soothing sedatives that never im- 
pel to action. They lull to repose but never vitalize. 
The ten-minute teacher. — It is evident, there- 
fore, that only the ten-minute teacher is worthy 
of a place in the vitalized school. She alone is 
able and willing to conserve, with religious zeal, 
the time and interest of the pupils. To her their 
time and interest are sacred and she deems it a 
sacrilege to trifle with them. She knows the market 
value of her own time but does not know the value 
of the time of the possible Edison who sits in her 
class. She gives to every child the benefit of the 
doubt and respects both herself and her pupils too 
much to take chances by pitting herself against 
them and using their time for her own purposes. 
Moreover, she never permits their interest to flag, 
but knows how to keep their minds tense. Their 
reactions are never less than incisive, and, there- 
fore, the truths of the lesson groove themselves 
deep in their consciousness. 



THE TIME ELEMENT 141 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is meant by the time element in teaching? 

2. How is an operation in a factory timed? For what 
purpose? What are some of the results that have accrued 
from the timing of work by efficiency experts? 

3. How can teaching be timed approximately? Is it 
probable that more of this will be done in the future by super- 
visors and investigators? Would you resent the timing of 
your work ? Would you appreciate it ? Why ? 

4. What may be done, in the matter of bodily positions, to 
improve mental time-reactions of the student ? Of the teacher ? 

5. The literature of a typewriter manufacturer carries the 
precept "Sit erect." What are the reasons? 

6. What two factors must be considered in estimating 
mental work with a view to time considerations ? 

7. If the attainment of school results by the teacher were 
treated as the attainment of factory results by the operator, 
what would happen if a large per cent of the time spent on a 
process were unnecessary ? 

8. Apply the factory manager's argument in detail to the 
teacher's efficiency. If you can, show wherein it fails to apply. 

9. What result besides waste of time may come of a cum- 
bersome method of teaching? 

10. How can one acquire a clear-cut method ? 

11. A professor of physics was asked by a former student 
who was beginning to teach for suggestions on the teaching of 
physics. His only reply was "Know your subject thoroughly." 
Was this a satisfactory response? Give reasons for your 
opinion. 

12. If the teacher can have lessons finished with greater 
rapidity, what can be done with the time thus remaining ? 



142 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

13. Show that the teacher must attend to the conservation 
of time in order to protect the child. 

14. In what way besides the direct waste of the minutes is 
the expenditure of undue time unfortunate? 

15. In what particular way do many teachers lose much of 
the recitation-lesson or study-lesson period? 

16. What are the results of an undue expenditure of time 
in this way ? 

17. What is the relation between the waste of time in school 
and the exodus of children from the upper grades ? 

18. What do you think of a teacher who persists in "mean- 
ingless formalities"? 

19. How does the repeating of answers by the teacher affect 
the pupils ? 

20. A teacher says she repeats answers often because pupils 
speak low and indistinctly. What are the proper remedies for 
this? 

21. What should be the teacher's rule in regard to digres- 
sions ? 

22. Why should every teacher strive to be a "ten-minute" 
teacher, and why should every supervisor strive to recommend 
no others ? 

23. What corollary can be drawn on the advisability of the 
employment of no teachers except those recommended by 
competent supervisors? 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE ARTIST TEACHER 

Teaching as a fine art. — Teaching is an art. 
This fact has universal recognition. But it may be 
made a fine art, a fact that is not so generally rec- 
ognized. The difference between the traditional 
school and the vitalized school lies in the fact, to a 
large degree, that, in the former, teaching is re- 
garded merely as an art, while in the latter it be- 
comes a fine art. In the former, the teacher is an 
artisan ; in the latter the teacher is an artist. The 
difference is broadly significant. The artisan, in 
his work, follows directions, plans, specifications, 
and blue-prints that have been devised and designed 
by others ; the artist imbues his work with imagina- 
tion. The artisan works by the day — so much 
money for so many hours' work with pay day as 
his large objective ; the artist does not disdain 
pay day, but he has an objective beyond this and 
has other sources of pleasure besides the pay enve- 
lope. The artisan thinks and talks of pay day ; 

143 



144 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

the artist thinks and talks of his work. The artisan 
drops his work when the bell rings ; the artist is so 
engrossed in his work that he does not hear the 
bell. The artisan plods at his task with a grudging 
mien ; the artist works in a fine frenzy. 

Characteristic qualities. — It is not easy to find 
the exact words by which to differentiate the tradi- 
tional teacher from the artist teacher. There is an 
elusive quality in the artist teacher which is not 
easily reduced to or described by formal words. 
We know that the one is an artist teacher and that 
the other is not. The formal examination may not 
be able to discover the artist teacher, but there is a 
sort of knowledge that transcends the findings of 
an examination, that makes her identity known. 
She is a real flesh and blood person and yet she has 
a distinctive quality that cannot be mistaken even 
though it eludes description. She exhales a certain 
exquisiteness that reveals itself in the delicacy and 
daintiness of her contact with people and the ob- 
jective world. Her impact upon the consciousness 
is no more violent than the fragrance of the rose, 
but, all at once, she is there and there to stay, 
modest, serene, and masterful. 

She is as gentle as the dawn but as staunch as 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 145 

the oak. She has knowledge and wisdom, and, 
better still, she has understanding ; she needs no 
diagram. Her gaze penetrates the very heart of a 
situation but is never less than kindly, and her eyes 
are never shifty. Her aplomb, her pose, and her 
poise belong to her quite as evidently as her hands. 
She is genuine and altogether free from affectation. 
Her presence stimulates without intoxicating, and 
she accepts the respect of people with the same nat- 
uralness and grace as would accompany her accept- 
ance of a glass of water. Both the giver and the 
recipient of this respect are ennobled by the giving. 
Indeed she would far rather have the respect of 
people, her pupils included, than mere admiration, 
for she knows full well that respect is far more 
deeply rooted in the spirit and bears fruit that is 
more worth while. Her nature knows not inertia, 
but it abounds in enterprise, endeavor, and courage 
that are born of a high purpose. 

Joy in her work. — Her teaching and her life do 
not occupy separate compartments but are identical 
in time and space ; only her teaching is but one 
phase or manifestation of her life. She fitly exem- 
plifies the statement that " Art is the expression of 
man's joy in his work." She has great joy in her 



146 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

work and, therefore, it is done as any other artist 
does his work. She enjoys all life, including her 
work. Indeed, she has contracted the habit of 
happiness and is so engrossed in the big elemental 
things of life that she can laugh at the incidental 
pin-pricks that others call troubles. She differ- 
entiates major from minor and never permits a 
minor to usurp the throne. Being an integral part 
of her life, her work takes on all the hues of her 
life. For her, culture is not something added; 
rather it is a something that permeates her whole 
nature and her whole life. She does not read poetry 
and other forms of literature, study the great master- 
pieces of music and art, and seek communion with 
the great, either in person or through their works 
— she does not do these things that she may acquire 
culture, but does them because she has culture. 

Dynamic qualities. — Her character is the sum 
of all her habits of thinking, feeling, and action and, 
therefore, is herself. Since she is an artist, her 
habits are all pitched in a high key and she is cul- 
ture personified. Her immaculateness of body and 
spirit is not a superficial acquisition but a funda- 
mental expression of her real self. Just as the elec- 
tric bulb diffuses light, so she diffuses an atmosphere 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 147 

of culture. She gives the artistic touch to every 
detail of her work because she is an artist, a genuine, 
sincere artist in all that makes up life. She has the 
heart of an artist, the eyes of an artist, the touch 
of an artist. Whether these qualities are inherent 
or acquired is beside the point, at present, but it 
may be remarked, in passing, that unless they were 
capable of cultivation, the world would be at a 
standstill. There is no place in her exuberant vital- 
ity for a jaundiced view, and hence her world does 
not become " stale, flat, and unprofitable." 

Aspiration and worship. — Every sincere, noble 
aspiration is a prayer ; hence, she prays without 
ceasing in obedience to the admonition of the Apostle. 
And, let it be said in reverence, she helps to answer 
her own prayers. Her spirit yearns out toward 
higher and wider attainments every hour of the day, 
not morbidly but exultantly. And while she aspires 
she worships. The starry sky holds her in rapt 
attention and admiration, and the modest flower 
does no less. She is thankful for the rain, and 
revels in the beauty and abundance of the snow. 
The heat may enervate, but she is grateful, none the 
less, because of its beneficent influence upon the 
farmer's work. Like food and sleep, her attitude 



148 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of worship conserves her powers and preserves her 
balance. When physical weariness comes, she sends 
her spirit out to the star, or the sea, or the moun- 
tain, and so forgets her burden in the contempla- 
tion of majesty and beauty. In short, her spirit 
is attuned to all beauty and sublimity and truth, 
and so she is inherently an artist. 

Professor Phelps quoted. — In his very delightful 
book, " Teaching in School and College," the author, 
Professor William Lyon Phelps, says : "I do not 
know that I could make entirely clear to an out- 
sider the pleasure I have in teaching. I had rather 
earn my living by teaching than in any other way. 
In my mind, teaching is not merely a life work, a 
profession, an occupation, a struggle ; it is a passion. 
I love to teach. I love to teach as a painter loves 
to paint, as a musician loves to play, as a singer 
loves to sing, as a strong man rejoices to run a race. 
Teaching is an art — an art so great and so difficult 
to master that a man or a woman can spend a long 
life at it, without realizing much more than his 
limitations and mistakes, and his distance from the 
ideal. But the main aim of my happy days has 
been to become a good teacher, just as every archi- 
tect wishes to be a good architect, and every pro- 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 149 

fessional poet strives toward perfection. For the 
chief difference between the ambition of the artist 
and the ambition of a money-maker — both natural 
and honorable ambitions — is that the money-maker 
is after the practical reward of his toil, while the 
artist wants the inner satisfaction that accompanies 
mastery." 

Attitude toward work. — To these sentiments the 
artist teacher subscribes whole-heartedly, if not in 
words, certainly by her attitude and practices. 
She regards her work not as a task but as a privilege, 
and thinking it a privilege she appreciates it as she 
would any other privilege. She would esteem it a 
privilege to attend a concert by high-class artists, 
or to visit an art gallery, or to witness a presenta- 
tion of a great drama, or to see the Jungfrau ; and 
she feels the same exaltation as she anticipates her 
work as a teacher. She sings on her way to school 
because of the privileges that await her. She 
experiences a fine flow of sentiment without becom- 
ing sentimental. Teaching, to her, is a serious 
business, but not, in the least, somber. Painting 
is a serious business, but the artist's zeal and joy 
in his work give wings to the hours. Laying the 
Atlantic cable was a serious business, but the vision 



150 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of success was both inspiring and inspiriting, and 
temporary mishaps only served to stimulate to 
greater effort. 

The element of enthusiasm. — To this teacher, 
each class exercise is an enterprise that is big with 
possibilities; and, in preparation for the event, she 
feels something of the thrill that must have ani- 
mated Columbus as he faced the sea. She esti- 
mates results more by the faces of her pupils than 
by the marks in a grade book, for the field of her 
endeavors is the spirit of the child, and the face of 
the child telegraphs to her the awakening of the 
spirit. Like the sculptor, she is striving to bring 
the angel of her dream into the face of the child; 
and when this hope is realized, the privilege of being 
a teacher seems the very acme of human aspira- 
tions. The animated face and the flashing eye 
betoken the sort of life that her teaching aims to 
stimulate; and when she sees these unmistakable 
manifestations, she knows that her big enterprise 
is a success and rejoices accordingly. If, for any 
reason, her enthusiasm is running low, she takes 
herself in hand and soon generates the enthusiasm 
that she knows is indispensable to the success of 
her enterprise. 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 151 

Redemption of common from commonplace. — 
She has the supreme gift of being able to redeem 
the common from the plane of the commonplace. 
Indeed, she never permits any fact of the books 
to become commonplace to her pupils. They all 
know that Columbus discovered America in 1492, 
but when the recitation touches this fact she invests 
it with life and meaning and so makes it glow as a 
factor in the class exercise. The humdrum tradi- 
tional teacher asks the question ; and when the pupil 
drones forth the answer, " Columbus discovered 
America in 1492," she dismisses the whole matter 
with the phonographic response, " Very good." 
What a farce ! What a travesty upon the work of 
the teacher ! Instead of being very good, it is bad, 
yea, inexpressibly bad. The artist teacher does it 
far better. By the magic of her touch she causes 
the imagination of her pupils to be fired and their 
interest to thrill with the mighty significance of the 
great event. They feel, vicariously, the poverty 
of Columbus in his appeals for aid and wish they 
might have been there to assist. They find them- 
selves standing beside the intrepid mariner, watch- 
ing the angry waves striving to beat him back. 
They watch him peering into space, day after day, 



152 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

and feel a thousand pities for him in his suspense. 
And when he steps out upon the new land, they 
want to shout out their salvos and proclaim him a 
victor. 

The voyage of Columbus. — They have yearned, 
and striven, and prayed with Columbus, and so 
have lived all the events of his great achievements. 
Hence, it can never be commonplace in their think- 
ing. The teacher lifted it far away from that plane 
and made it loom high and large in their conscious- 
ness. A dramatic critic avers that the action of the 
play occurs, not upon the stage, but in the imagina- 
tion of the auditors ; that the players merely cause 
the imagination to produce the action; and that 
if nothing were occurring in the imagination of 
the people in the seats beyond what is occurring 
on the stage, the audience would leave the theater 
by way of protest. The artist teacher acts upon 
this very principle in every class exercise. Neither 
the teacher nor the book can possibly depict even a 
moiety of all that she hopes to produce in the imag- 
ination of the pupils. She is ever striving to find 
the one word or sentence that will evoke a whole 
train of events in their minds. Just here is where 
her superb art is shown. A whole volume could 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 153 

not portray all that the imagination of the pupils 
saw in connection with the voyage of Columbus, 
and yet the teacher caused all these things to hap- 
pen by the use of comparatively few words. This 
is high art ; this proclaims the artist teacher. 

Resourcefulness. — In her work there is a fine- 
ness and a delicacy of touch that baffles a satis- 
factory analysis. She has the power to call forth 
Columbus from the past to reenact his great dis- 
covery in the imagination of her pupils — all with- 
out noise, or bombast, or gesticulation. She does 
what she does because she is what she is ; and she 
needs neither copyright nor patent for protection. 
Her work is suffused with a rare sort of enthusiasm 
that carries conviction by reason of its genuineness. 
This enthusiasm gives to her work a tone and a 
flavor that can neither be disguised nor counter- 
feited. Her work is distinctive, but not sensational 
or pyrotechnic. Least of all is it ever hackneyed. 
So resourceful is she in devising new plans and new 
ways of saying and doing things that her pupils 
are always animated by a wholesome expectancy. 
She is the dynamo, but the light and heat that she 
generates manifest themselves in the minds of her 
pupils, while she remains serene and quiet. 



154 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The thirteen colonies. — With the poet Keats she 
can sing: 

Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is all 
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. 

Animated by this sentiment, she disdains no form of 
truth, whether large or small, for in every form of 
truth she finds beauty ; and her spirit reacts to it on 
the instant, and joy is the resultant. This is the 
basis for her superb enthusiasm in every detail of her 
work as well as the source of her joyous living. Her 
pupils may name the thirteen original colonies 
without a slip, but that is not enough for her. The 
establishing of these colonies formed a mighty epoch 
in history, and she must dwell upon the events until 
they throb through the life currents of her pupils. 
Names in books must mean people with all their 
hopes, their aspirations, their trials and hardships, 
their sorrows and their joys. The conditions of 
life, the food, the clothing, the houses, the modes 
of travel, and the dangers must all come into the 
mental picture. Hence it is that she prepares for the 
lesson on the colonies as she would make ready for a 
trip with the pupils around the world, and the mere 
giving of names is negligible in her inspiring enterprise. 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 155 

Every subject invested with life. — She finds in 
the circulation of the blood a subject of great im- 
port and makes ready for the lesson with enthusiastic 
anticipation. Her step is elastic as she takes 
her way to school on this particular day, and her 
face is beaming, for to-day comes to the children 
this stupendous revelation. She feels as did the 
college professor when he was just ready to begin 
an experiment in his laboratory and said to his 
students, "Gentlemen, please remove your hats; 
I am about to ask God a question." She approaches 
every truth reverently, albeit joyously, for she feels 
that she is the leader of the children over into the 
Promised Land. In the book already quoted, Pro- 
fessor Phelps says, " I read in a German play that 
the mathematician is like a man who lives in a 
glass room at the top of a mountain covered with 
eternal snow — he sees eternity and infinity all 
about him, but not much humanity." Not so in 
her teaching of mathematics ; for every subject 
and every problem transports her to the Isle of 
Patmos, and the hour is crowded with revelations. 

Human interest. — And wherever she is, there 
is humanity. There are no dry bones in her work, 
for she invests every subject with human interest 



156 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

and causes it to pulsate in the consciousness of her 
pupils. If there are dry bones when she arrives, 
she has but to touch them with the magic of her 
humanity, and they become things of life. Whether 
long division or calculus, it is to her a part of the liv- 
ing, palpitating truth of the world, and she causes 
it to live before the minds of the pupils. The so- 
called dead languages spring to life in her presence, 
and, like Aaron's rod, blossom and bring forth at 
her touch. Wherever she walks there are resurrec- 
tions because life begets life. No science, no mathe- 
matics, no history, no language, can be dull or dry 
when touched by her art, but all become vital 
because she is vital. By the subtle alchemy of her 
artistic teaching all the subjects of her school are 
transmuted into the pure gold of truth and beauty. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What kinds of arts are there other than the fine arts ? 

2. How do the motives of the artisan differ from those of 
the artist ? 

3. What are some of the characteristics that gain one the 
distinction of being an "artist" teacher? 

4. Show that to enjoy respect is more worth while than 
to attract admiration. 

5. Under what conditions can one have joy in his work? 
Can one do his best without it? 



THE ARTIST TEACHER 157 

6. What is the result on one's work of brooding over 
troubles ? 

7. Henry Ford employs trained sociologists who see that 
the home relations of his employees are satisfactory. Why ? 

8. Is one who reads good literature to acquire culture as 
yet an "artist" teacher? 

9. What constitutes character ? 

10. What is the inference concerning one's culture if his 
clothes and body are not clean ? If his property at the school 
is not in order? 

11. How can one add to his culture? Is what one knows 
or what one does the more important part of it? Has a high 
degree of culture been attained by a person who must ever be 
on his guard ? 

12. Is feeling an important element of culture ? Illustrate. 

13. What is the teacher's chief reward ? 

14. Can a teacher lead pupils to regard work as a privilege 
rather than as a task, unless she has that attitude herself? 

15. In what respects do you regard teaching as a privilege? 
In what respects is it drudgery to you ? 

16. Can enthusiasm result if there is a lack of joy in one's 
work ? If there is a deficiency of physical strength ? If there 
is a poor knowledge of the subject? 

17. What causes historical facts to seem commonplace? 

18. What elements should be emphasized in history to 
make it seem alive with meaning ? 

19. What principle of the drama comes into play in teach- 
ing, when a teacher desires to invest the subject with life ? 

20. What advantages are there in having variety in one's 
plans ? 

21. Why should one avoid the sensational in school work? 
What are the characteristics of sensationalism? Is the fact 



158 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

that a class is unusually aroused a reason for decrying a method 
as sensational? 

22. With what spirit should a teacher prepare to teach 
about the thirteen colonies? 

23. Why should a teacher have great joy in the teaching of 
science ? 

24. Is interest in a subject as an abstract science likely 
to be an adequate interest? If so, is it the best sort of in- 
terest ? Why ? 

25. From what should interest start, and in what should it 
function ? 

26. Summarize the ways in which the artist teacher will 
show herself the artist. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 

Responsibility of the exemplar. — If the teacher 
could be convinced that each of her pupils is to 
become, a replica of herself, she would more fully 
appreciate the responsibilities of her position. At 
first flush, she might feel flattered; but when she 
came into a full realization of the magnitude of the 
responsibility, she would probably seek release. If 
she could know that each pupil is striving to copy 
her in every detail of her life, her habits of speech, 
her bodily movements, her tone of voice, her dress, 
her walk, and even her manner of thinking, this 
knowledge would appall her, and she would shrink 
from the responsibility of becoming the exemplar 
of the child. She cannot know, however, to what 
extent and in what respects the pupils imitate her. 
Nor, perhaps, could they themselves give definite 
information on these points, if they were put to the 
test. Children imitate their elders both consciously 
and unconsciously ; so, whether the teacher wills 

159 



160 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

it so or not, she must assume the functions of an 
exemplar as well as a teacher. 

Absorbing standards. — If we give full credence 
to Tennyson's statement, " I am a part of all that 
I have met," then it follows that we have become 
what we are, in some appreciable measure, through 
the process of absorption. In other words, we are 
a composite of all our ideals. The vase of flowers, 
daintily arranged, on the breakfast table becomes the 
standard of good taste thenceforth, and all through 
life a vase of flowers arranged less than artistically 
gives one a sensation of discomfort. A traveler 
relates that in a hotel in Brussels he saw window 
curtains of a delicate pattern ; and, since that time, 
he has sought in many cities for curtains that will 
fill the measure of the ideal he absorbed in that 
hotel. Beauty is not in the thing itself, but in the 
eye of the beholder, and the eye is but the interpreter 
of the ideal. One person rhapsodizes over a picture 
that another turns away from, because the latter 
has absorbed an ideal that is unknown to the former. 

Education by absorption. — This subject of ab- 
sorption has not received the careful attention that 
its importance warrants. In the social conscious- 
ness education has been so long associated with 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 161 

books, and formal processes, that we find it difficult 
to conceive of education outside of or beyond books. 
If, as we so confidently assert, education is a spirit- 
ual process, then whatever stimulates the spirit 
must be education, whether a landscape, a flower, 
a picture, or a person. The traveler who sits 
enrapt before the Jungfrau for an hour or a day 
is becoming more highly educated, even in the 
absence of books and formalities. The beauty of 
the mountain touches his spirit, and there is a con- 
sequent reaction that fulfills all the claims of the 
educational processes. In short, he is lifted to a 
higher plane of appreciation, and that is what the 
books and the schools are striving to achieve. 

The principle illustrated. — In the presence of 
this mountain the tourist gains an ideal of grandeur 
which becomes his standard of estimating scenery 
throughout life. A boy once heard " The Dead 
March " played by an artist, and when he was grown 
to manhood that was still his ideal of majestic 
music. A traveler asserts that no man can stand 
for an hour on the summit of Mt. Rigi and not 
become a better and a stronger man for the experi- 
ence. A writer on art says that it is worth a trip 
across the ocean to see the painting of the bull by 



162 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Paul Potter; but that, of course, depends upon the 
ideals of the beholder. All these illustrations con- 
form to and are in harmony with the psychological 
dictum that in the educational process the spirit 
reacts to its environment. 

The teacher as environment. — But the envi- 
ronment may include people as well as inanimate 
objects, mountains, rivers, flowers, and pictures. 
And, as a part of the child's environment, the teacher 
takes her place in the process of education by ab- 
sorption. A city superintendent avers that there 
is one teacher in his corps who would be worth 
more to his school than the salary she receives even 
if she did no teaching. This means that her pres- 
ence in the school is a wholesome influence, and 
that she is the sort of environment to which the 
pupils react to their own advantage. It might not 
be a simple thing to convince some taxpayers of the 
truth of the superintendent's statement, but this 
fact only proves that they have not yet come into 
a realization of the fact that there can be education 
by absorption. 

The Great Stone Face. — The people of Florence 
maintain that they need not travel abroad to see 
the world, for the reason that the world comes to 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 163 

them. It is true that many thousands visit that 
city annually to win a definition of art. There they 
absorb their ideals of art and thus attain abiding 
standards. In like manner the child may sojourn 
in the school to gain an ideal of grace of manner 
and personal charm as exemplified by the teacher, 
and no one will have the temerity to assert that 
this phase of the child's education is less important 
than those that are acquired through the formal 
processes. The boy in the story grew into the 
likeness of the " Great Stone Face " because that 
had become his ideal, and not because he had had 
formal instruction in the subject of stone faces, or 
had taken measurements of or computed the dimen- 
sions of the one stone face. He grew into its like- 
ness because he thought of it, dreamed of it, ab- 
sorbed it, and was absorbed by it, and reacted to it 
whenever it came into view. 

Pedagogy in literature. — Hawthorne, in this 
story, must have been trying to teach the lesson of 
unconscious education or education by absorption, 
but his readers have not all been quick to catch 
his meaning. Teachers often take great unction in 
the reflection that they afford to the child his only 
means of education, and that but for them the 



164 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

child would never become educated at all. We are 
slow to admit that there are many sources of educa- 
tion besides the school, and that formal instruction 
is not the only road to the acquisition of knowledge. 
Tennyson knew and expressed this conception in 
the quotation already given, but we have not ac- 
quired the habit of consulting the poets and novelists 
for our pedagogy. When we learn to consult these, 
we shall find them expressing many tenets of peda- 
gogy that are basic. 

The testimony of experience. — But we need 
not go beyond our own experiences to realize that 
much of our education has been unconsciously 
gained, that we have absorbed much of it, and, 
possibly, what we now regard as the most vital 
part of it. We have but to explore our own expe- 
riences to discover some person whose standards 
have been effective in luring us out of ourselves 
and causing us to yearn toward higher levels ; who 
has been the beacon light toward which our feet 
have been stumbling; who has been the pattern 
by which we have sought to shape our lives ; and 
for whom we feel a sense of gratitude that cannot 
be quenched. The influence of that person has been 
a liberal education in the vital things that the 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 165 

books do not teach, and we shudder to think what 
we might have been had that influence not come 
into our lives. This ideal is not some mythical, 
far-away person, but a real man or woman who 
has challenged our admiration by looks, by con- 
duct, by position, and by general bearing in society. 
The one teacher. — This preliminary part of the 
subject has been dwelt upon thus at length in an 
effort to win assent to the general proposition that 
unconscious education is not only possible, but an 
actuality. This assent being once given, the mind 
feels out at once for applications of the principle 
and, inevitably, brings the parent and the teacher 
into the field of view. But the parent is too near 
to us in time, in space, and in relation to afford the 
illustration that we seek, and we pass on to the 
teacher. In the experience of each one of us there 
stands out at least one teacher as clear in definition 
as a cameo. This teacher may not have been the 
most scholarly, or the most successful in popular 
esteem, or even the most handsome, but she had 
some quality that differentiates her in our think- 
ing from all others. Others may seem but a sort 
of blur in our memory, but not so this one. She 
alone is distinct, distinctive, and regnant. 



166 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Her supremacy. — The vicissitudes of life have 
not availed to dethrone her, nor have the losses, 
perplexities, and sorrows of life caused the light of 
her influence to grow dim. She is still an abiding 
presence with us, nor can we conceive of any influ- 
ence that could possibly obliterate her. She may 
have been idealized by degrees, but when she came 
fully into our lives she came to stay. She came not 
as a transient guest, but as a lifelong friend and 
comrade. She crept into our lives as gently as the 
dawn comes over the hills, and since her arrival 
there has been no sunset. Nor was there ever by 
pupil or teacher any profession or protestation, 
but we simply accepted each other with a frankness 
that would have been weakened by words. 

The role of ideal. — But the role of ideal is not 
an easy one. It is a comparatively simple matter 
to give instruction in geography, arithmetic, and 
history, but to know one's self to be the ideal of a 
child, or to conceive of the possibility of such a 
situation and relation, is sufficient to render the 
teacher deeply thoughtful. Once it is borne in 
upon her that the child will grow into her likeness, 
she cannot dismiss the matter from her thinking 
as she can the lesson in grammar. The child may 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 167 

be unconscious of the matter, but the teacher is 
acutely conscious. When she stands before her 
class she sees the child growing into her image, and 
this reflection gives cause and occasion for a careful 
and critical introspection. She feels constrained 
to take an inventory of herself to determine whether 
she can stand a test that is so searching and so 
far-reaching. 

The teacher's other self. — As she stands thus in 
contemplation she sees the child grown to matur- 
ity with all her own predilections — physical, men- 
tal, spiritual — woven into the pattern of its life. 
In this child grown up she sees her other self and 
can thus estimate the qualities of body, mind, and 
spirit that now constitute herself, as they reveal 
themselves in another. She thus gains the child's 
point of view and so is able to see herself through 
the child's eyes. When she is reading a book, she 
is aware that the child is looking over her shoulder 
to note the quality of literature that engages her 
interest. When she is making a purchase at the 
shop, she finds the child standing at her elbow and 
duplicating her order. When she is buying a pic- 
ture, she is careful to see to it that there are two 
copies, knowing that a second copy must be provided 



168 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

for the child. When she is arranging her personal 
adornment, she is conscious of the child peeping 
through the door and absorbing her with languish- 
ing eyes. 

The status irrevocable. — Wherever she goes or 
whatever she does, she knows that the child is 
walking in her footsteps and reenacting her con- 
duct. Her status is irrevocably fixed in the life of 
the child, nor can any philosophy or sophistry absolve 
her from the situation. She cannot abdicate her 
place in favor of another, nor can she win immunity 
from responsibility. She is the child's ideal for 
weal or woe, nor can men or angels change this big 
fact. Through all the hours of the day she hears 
the child saying, " Whither thou goest I will go," 
and there is no escape. 

The child's viewpoint. — This is no flight of 
fancy. Rather it is a reality in countless school- 
rooms of the land if only the teachers were alive 
to the fact. But we have been so busy measuring, 
estimating, scoring, and surveying the child for our 
purposes that we have given but scant consideration 
to the child's point of view as regards the teacher. 
We have not been quick to note the significant fact 
that the child is estimating, measuring, scoring, and 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 169 

surveying the teacher for purposes of its own and 
in the strictest obedience to the laws of its nature. 

The child's need of ideals. — Every child needs 
and has a right to ideals, and finds the teacher con- 
venient both in space and in the nature of her work 
to act in this capacity. Because of the character 
of her work and her peculiar relation to the child, 
the teacher assumes a place of leadership, and the 
child naturally appropriates her as the lodestar for 
which his nature is seeking. And so, whether the 
teacher leads into the morass or into the jungle, 
the child will follow ; but if she elects to take her 
way up to the heights, there will be the child as faith- 
ful as her shadow. If the teacher plucks flowers 
by the way, then, in time, gathering flowers will 
become habitual to the child, nor will there be any 
need to admonish the child to gather flowers. The 
teacher plucks flowers, and that becomes the child's 
command. Education by absorption needs neither 
admonition nor homilies. 

The ideal a perpetual influence. — And all this 
is life — actual life, fundamental life, and inevitable 
life. Moreover, the inevitableness of this phase of 
life serves to accentuate its importance. The 
idealized teacher gives to the child his ideals of 



170 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

conduct, literature, art, music, home, school, and 
service. Take this teacher out of his life and these 
ideals vanish. Better by far eliminate the formal 
instruction, important as that may be made to be, 
than to rob the child of his ideals. They are the 
influences that are ever active even when formal 
instruction is quiescent. They are potent through- 
out the day and throughout the year. They induce 
reactions and motor activities that groove into 
habits, and they are the external stimuli to which 
the spirit responds. 

The teacher's attitude. — The vitalized school 
takes full cognizance of this phase and means of 
education and gives large scope and freedom for its 
exercise and development. The teacher is more 
concerned with who and what her pupils are to be 
twenty years hence than she is in getting them pro- 
moted to the next grade. She knows full well that 
vision clarifies sight, and she is eager to enlarge 
their vision in order to make their sight more keen 
and clear. She, therefore, adopts as her own stand- 
ards of life and conduct what she wishes for her 
pupils when they have come to maturity. She 
may not proclaim herself an ideal teacher or a model 
teacher, but she is cognizant of the fact that she 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 171 

is the model and the ideal of one or more pupils 
in her school and bases her rule of life upon this 
fact. 

Prophetic conduct. — In her dress she decides 
between ornateness and simplicity as a determining 
factor in the lives of her pupils both for the present 
and for the years to come. In this she feels that 
she is but doing her part in helping to determine 
the trend and quality of civilization. She is reading 
such books as she hopes to find in their libraries 
when they have come to administer homes of their 
own. She is directing her thinking into such chan- 
nels as will bear the thoughts of her pupils out into 
the open sea of bigness and sublimity. Knowing 
that pettiness will be inimical to society in the next 
generation, she is careful to banish it from her own 
life. 

Her rule of life. — In her thinking she comes into 
intimate relations with the sea and all its ramified 
influences upon life. She invites the mountains 
to take her into their confidence and reveal to her 
the mysteries of their origin, and their influence 
upon the winds, the seasons, the products of the 
earth, and upon life itself. She communes with 
the great of all times that she may learn of their 



172 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

concepts as to the immensities which the mind can 
explore, as well as intricate and infinite manifesta- 
tions of the human soul. She associates with the 
planets and rides the spaces in their company. She 
asks the flowers, the sunrise glow of the morning, the 
hues of the rainbow, and the drop of dew to explain 
to her what God is, and rejoices in their responses. 

Her growth. — And so, through her thinking she 
grows big — big in her aspirations, big in her sym- 
pathies with all nature and mankind, big in her 
altruism, and big in her conceptions of the universe 
and all that it embraces. And when people come 
to know her they almost lose sight of the teacher in 
their contemplation of the woman. Her pupils, by 
their close contact and communion, became inocu- 
lated with the germs of her bigness and so follow 
the lead of her thinking, her aspirations, her sym- 
pathies, and her conceptions of life. Thus they 
grow into her likeness by absorbing her thoughts, 
her ideals, her standards, in short, herself. 

Seeing life large. — The bigness of her spirit and 
her ability to see and feel life in the large super- 
induce dignity, poise, and serenity. She never 
flutters ; but, calm and masterful, she moves on 
her majestic way with regal mien. Nor is her teach- 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 173 

ing less thorough or less effective because she has a 
vision. On the contrary, she teaches cube root 
with accuracy and still is able to see and to cause 
her pupils to see the index finger pointing out and 
up toward the mathematical infinities. She can 
give the latitude and longitude of Rome, and, while 
doing so, review the achievements of that historic 
city. She can explain the action of the geyser and 
still find time and inclination to take delight in its 
wonders. She can analyze the flower and still 
revel in its beauty. She can teach the details of 
history and find in them the footprints of great his- 
torical movements. All these things her pupils 
sense and so invest her with the attributes of an 
ideal. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Do most teachers realize to what extent they have 
influence ? 

2. Is it comfortable to think that one is an example? If 
not, why not? Is it only teachers who need to feel that they 
are examples? Is it fair to demand a higher standard of the 
teacher and preacher ? 

3. Give from your own experience instances in which you 
have absorbed an ideal which has persisted. Is there danger 
of adopting an ideal that, while it is worthy as far as it goes, 
is merely incidental and not worth while? (Such are an ac- 
curate memory of unimportant details, certain finesse in 



174 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

manners and speech, punctiliousness in engagements, exhaus- 
tiveness in shopping before making purchases, perfection in 
penmanship and other arts at the expense of speed : suggest 
others.) 

4. How can the contemplation of a rainbow educate? 
What education should result from a view of Niagara Falls ? 

5. What qualities would a teacher have to possess that 
her influence aside from her teaching might be of more value 
than the teaching itself? 

6. That one may have influence is it enough for one to 
be good, or is it what one does that counts? Suggest lines of 
action for a teacher that would increase her influence for good. 

7. Explain how a fine unconscious influence exerted by a 
teacher helps to keep pupils in school. 

8. In Hawthorne's story of the Great Stone Face what 
qualities were attained by those whom Ernest expected to grow 
into the likeness ? 

9. Why did Ernest's face come to resemble that of the 
great stone face ? 

10. In what ways is good fiction of value to teachers ? 

11. Cite something that you have gained from the un- 
conscious influence of another. 

12. What attainments or qualities have you yet to acquire 
in order to stand out as "distinctive and regnant" to a good 
many pupils ? 

13. A bacteriologist makes a "culture" of a drop of blood, 
multiplying many times the bacteria in it, to determine whether 
serious disease germs are prevalent. If the influence of a person 
could be observed in a large way, would that be conclusive as 
to the person's character, just as the result of the culture proves 
the condition of the blood ? May there not be an obscure ele- 
ment in the teacher's character that is having a deleterious 



THE TEACHER AS AN IDEAL 175 

effect? Or is it only the outstanding features of his conduct 
that affect the pupils ? 

14. Why is it more important to acquire ideals than to ac- 
quire knowledge ? 

15. Describe the attitude of the teacher toward the pupils 
in the "vitalized" school. 

16. Show how the teacher should have in view the future of 
the pupils. 

17. Is it a compliment to be easily recognized as a teacher ? 
Why or why not ? 

18. Just what is meant by "narrowness" in a teacher? 
What is meant by "bigness"? What is their effect if the 
teacher is taken as an ideal ? 

19. Can one instill high ideals in others without fre- 
quently absorbing inspiration himself? What are suitable 
sources ? 



CHAPTER XV 

THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 

The term defined. — The socialized recitation, as 
its name implies, is a recitation in which teacher 
and pupils form themselves into a committee of the 
whole for the purpose of investigating some phase 
of a school study. In this committee the line of 
cleavage between teacher and pupils is obliterated 
as nearly as possible, the teacher exercising only 
so much of authority as will preserve the integrity 
of the group and forestall its disintegration. The 
teacher thus becomes a coordinate and cooperating 
member of the group, and her superior knowledge of 
the subject is held in abeyance to be called into 
requisition only in an emergency and as a last resort. 
It will readily be seen, however, that the teacher's 
knowledge of the subject must be far more compre- 
hensive in such a procedure than in the question- 
and-answer type of recitation, for the very cogent 
reason that the discussion is both liable and likely 
to diverge widely from the limits of the book ; and 

176 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 177 

the teacher must be conversant, therefore, with all 
the auxiliary facts. She must be able to cite authori- 
ties in case of need, and make specific data readily 
accessible to all members of the group. This pre- 
supposes wide reading on her part, and a consequent 
familiarity with all the sources of knowledge that 
have a bearing upon the subject under consideration. 
The pupil-teacher. — In order to make the co- 
operative principle of the recitation active in practice 
a pupil acts as chairman of the meeting, serving in 
rotation, and gives direction to the discussion. He 
is clothed with authority, also, to restrict the dis- 
cussion to time limits that there may be no sem- 
blance of monopoly and that the same rights and 
privileges may be accorded to each member of the 
class. The chairman, in short, acts both as captain 
and as umpire, with the teacher in the background 
as the court of final appeal. Knowing the order of 
rotation, each pupil knows in advance upon what 
day he is to assume the functions of chairman and 
makes preparation accordingly, that he may acquit 
himself with credit in measuring up to the added 
responsibilities which the position imposes. In tak- 
ing the chair he does not affect an air of superiority 
for the reason that he knows the position to have 



178 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

come to him by rotation and that upon his conduct of 
the duties depend his chances for honor ; and acting 
for his peers he is careful not to do anything that 
will lead to a forfeiture of their respect and good will. 
Some advantages. — It requires far more time to 
describe these preliminary arrangements than it 
does to put them into operation. Indeed, after the 
first day, they become well-nigh automatic. Because 
of their adaptableness the pupils look upon the new 
order as the established order, and, besides, the rota- 
tion in the chair affords a pleasing antidote to mo- 
notony. Each day brings just enough novelty to 
generate a wholesome degree of anticipation. They 
are all stimulated by an eagerness to know just what 
the day will bring forth. The class exercise is re- 
lieved of much of the heavy formalism that charac- 
terizes the traditional recitation and that is so irk- 
some to children of school age. The socialized 
recitation is a worthy enterprise that enlists the 
interest of all members of the group and unifies 
them upon the plane of a common purpose. In 
the common quest they become members in a social 
compact whose object is the investigation of some 
subject that has been found worthy the attention 
and thoughtful consideration of scholars and authors. 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 179 

The gang element. — The members of the group 
represent all strata of society, and the group is, in 
consequence, a working democracy. Moving in the 
same direction under a common impulse and intent 
upon a laudable enterprise, race and class distinc- 
tions are considered negligible, if, indeed, they are 
not entirely overlooked or forgotten. The group 
is, in truth, a sublimated gang with the undesirable 
elements eliminated and the potential qualities of 
the gang retained. The gang spirit when impelling 
in right directions and toward worthy ends is to be 
highly commended. In the gang, each member stim- 
ulates and reenforces the other members, and their 
achievements in combination amply justify their 
cooperation. The potency of the gang spirit is 
well exemplified in such enterprises as " tag day " 
for the benefit of charity, the sale of Red Cross 
stamps, and the sale of special editions of papers. 
People willingly enlist in these enterprises who 
would not do so but for the element of cooperation. 
We have come to recognize and write upon the psy- 
chology of the gang, and the socialized recitation 
strives to utilize these psychological principles for 
the advancement and advantage of the enterprise 
in hand. 



180 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Proprietary interest. — In a cooperative enter- 
prise such as the one under consideration each 
member of the group feels a sense of responsibility 
for the success of the enterprise as a whole, and this 
makes for increased effort. In the traditional recita- 
tion the pupil feels responsibility only for that part 
of the lesson upon which he is called to recite. In 
his thinking the enterprise belongs to the teacher, 
and therefore he feels no proprietary interest. If the 
lesson is a failure, he experiences no special compunc- 
tion ; if a success, he feels no special elation. If 
the trunk with which he struggles up the stairs is 
his own, he has the feeling of a victor when he reaches 
the top ; but since it belongs to the teacher, he feels 
that he has finished a disagreeable task, takes his 
compensating pittance in the form of a grade, and 
goes on his complacent way. The boy who digs 
potatoes from his own garden thinks them larger 
and smoother than the ones he digs for wages. The 
latter are potatoes, while the former are his pota- 
toes. Proprietary interest sinks its roots deep into 
the motives that impel to action. 

This interest in practice. — The recitation in 
question strives to generate a proprietary interest 
in the enterprise on the part of every member of 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 181 

the class so that each one may have a share in the 
joy of success. Such an interest gives direction 
and efficacy to the work of the class exercise. Given 
such an interest, the pupil will not sit inert through 
the period unless stimulated by a question from 
the teacher, but will ask intelligent and pertinent 
questions to help the enterprise along. Moreover, 
each pupil, because of his proprietary interest in 
the enterprise, will feel constrained to bring to class 
such subsidiary aids as his home affords. His 
interest causes him to react to clippings, pictures, 
magazine articles, books, and conversations that 
have a bearing upon the topic, and these he contrib- 
utes opportunely in his zeal for the success of the 
recitation. His pockets become productive of a 
varied assortment of materials that the tentacles 
of his interest have seized upon in his preparation 
for the event, and so all members of the class become 
beneficiaries of his explorations and discoveries. 

The potency of ownership. — A child is interested 
in his own things. The little girl fondles her doll 
in the most tender way, even though it does not 
measure up to the accepted standards of excellence 
or elegance. But it is her doll ; hence her affection. 
Volumes have been written upon the general sub- 



182 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

ject of interest, and we have been admonished to 
attach our teaching to the native interests of the 
child, but the fundamental interest of proprietorship 
has strangely enough been overlooked. If we want 
to discover and localize the child's interest, we have 
but to make an inventory of his possessions. His 
pony, his dog, or his cart will discover to us one of 
his interests. Again, if we would generate an in- 
terest in the child, we have but to make him conscious 
that he is the owner of the thing for which we hope 
to awaken his interest. This is fundamental in 
this type of recitation. The teacher effaces herself 
as much as possible in order to develop in the pupils 
a feeling of proprietorship in the exercise in progress, 
and the pupils are quick to take the advantage thus 
afforded to make the work their own. 

Exemplified in society. — The socialized recita- 
tion has its counterpart in many a group in society. 
In the blacksmith shop, at the grocery, in the barber 
shop, in the office, at the club, and in the field, we 
find groups of people in earnest, animated conversa- 
tion or discussion. They are discussing politics, 
religion, community affairs, public improvements, 
tariff, war, fashions, crops, live stock, or machinery. 
Whatever the topic, they pursue the give-and-take 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 183 

policy in their efforts to arrive at the truth. They 
contest every point and make concessions only 
when they are confronted by indisputable facts. 
Some feeling, or even acrimony, may be generated 
in the course of the discussion, but this is always 
accounted a weakness and a substitute for valid 
argument. The recitation is rather more decorous 
than some of these other discussions, but, in princi- 
ple, they are identical. Every one has freedom to 
express his convictions and to adduce contributory 
arguments or evidence. There are no restrictions 
save the implied one of decorum. The utmost 
courtesy obtains in the recitation, even at the sacri- 
fice of some eagerness. There may be a half-dozen 
members of the group on their feet and anxious to be 
heard, but they do not interrupt one another with- 
out due apology. 

Abiding resultants. — Unlike some of their elders, 
they are ready to acknowledge mistakes and to 
make concessions. They do not scruple to correct 
the mistakes of others, knowing that corrections 
will be gratefully received, but they do not accept 
mere statements from one another. They must 
have evidence. They combat statements with evi- 
dence from books or other sources that are regarded 



184 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

as authorities. They read extracts, or draw dia- 
grams, or display pictures or specimens in support 
of their contentions. There is animation, to be 
sure ; and, at times, the flushed face and the flashing 
eye betoken intense feeling. But the psychologist 
knows full well that these expressions intensify and 
make abiding the impressions. Both in victory 
and in defeat the pupil comes to an appreciation of 
the truth. Defeat may humiliate, but he will ever- 
more know the rock on which his craft was wrecked. 
Victory may elate and exalt, but he will not forget 
the occasion or the facts. The truths of the lesson 
become enmeshed in his nervous system and through- 
out life they will be a part of himself. 

Reflex influence. — Still further, this type of 
recitation reaches back into the home and begets a 
wholesome cooperation between the home and the 
school, and this is a desideratum of no slight import. 
The events of the day are recounted at the home 
in the evening, and the contributions of the members 
of the family are deposited as assets in the recitation 
the next day. Then the family is eager to learn 
of the reactions of the class to their contributions. 
Such a community of interests cannot be confined 
to the four walls of a home, but finds its way to 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 185 

other homes and to places of business ; the discus- 
sions of the class become the property of society, 
and the influence is most salutary. Indirectly, 
the school is affording the people of the community 
many profitable topics of conversation, and these 
readily supplant the futile and less profitable topics. 
It is easy to measure the intelligence of an individ- 
ual or of a community by noting the topics of con- 
versation. Gossip and small talk do not thrive in 
a soil that has been thoroughly inoculated with 
history, art, music, literature, economics, and 
statecraft. 

Influence upon pupils. — From the foregoing it 
will be seen that this type of recitation represents, 
not a modus operandi, but, rather, a modus vivendi, 
not a way of doing things, merely, but a manner of 
living. The work of the school is redeemed from 
the plane of a task and lifted to the plane of a priv- 
ilege. The pupil's initiative is given full recogni- 
tion and inspiriting freedom ensues. The teacher 
is not a taskmaster but a friend in need. Pupils 
and teacher live and work together in an enterprise 
in which they have common interests. The emolu- 
ments attending success are shared equally and 
there is no place for envy in the distribution of 



186 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

dividends. There is fair dealing in every detail of 
the work, with no semblance of discrimination. 
There is a cash basis in every transaction. If a 
pupil's offerings are rejected, he sees at once that 
they are inferior to others and becomes a willing 
shareholder in the ones that are superior to his 
own. Nothing that is spurious or counterfeit can 
gain currency in the enterprise, because of the critical 
inspection of the members of the group, all of whom 
are jealous for the preservation of the integrity of 
their organization. 

In this cross section of life we find young people 
learning, by the laboratory method, the real mean- 
ing of reciprocity ; we find them winning the view- 
points of others with no abatement or abrogation 
of their own individuality ; we find them able and 
willing to make concessions for the general good ; 
we find them learning justice and discrimination 
in their assessment of values ; we find them enlarg- 
ing their horizons by ascending to higher levels of 
intelligence. This work is as much a part of life 
for them as their food or their games and they accept 
it on the same terms. They are becoming upright, 
intelligent, effective citizens by performing some 
of the work that engages the time and energies of 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 187 

such citizens. They are learning how to live by 
the experience of actual living. 

Part of an actual recitation given. — Some schools 
have developed this type of recitation to a very 
complete degree and in a very effective way. In 
one such school the young woman who teaches the 
subject of history makes the following report of a 
part of one of her recitations in this study : 

The class was called to order by the chairman for 
the assignment for the next day's lesson, which 
proceeded as follows : 

Teacher : — To-morrow we shall have for the work 
of this convention the New Constitution as a whole. 
We are ready for suggestions as to how we had best 
proceed. 

Earl : — It seems to me that a good way would 
be to compare it with the Articles of Confederation. 

Joe : — I don't quite get your idea. Do you 
mean to take them article by article? 

Earl : — Yes. 

(Joe and Frank begin at the same time. Teacher 
indicates Joe by nod.) 

Joe : — But there are so many things in the new 
that are not in the old. 

Earl : — That is just it. Let's make a list of the 



188 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

points in one that do not appear in the other. 
Then by investigation and discussion see if we can 
tell why. 

Teacher : — Frank, you had something to say a 
moment ago. 

Frank : — Not on Earl's plan, which I think an 
excellent one, but I wished to ask the class if they 
think it important while looking through these two 
documents to keep in mind the questions : "Is this 
the way things are done to-day? " and " Does this 
apply in our own city ? " and " In case the President 
or Congress failed in their duty, what could the 
people do about it ? " 

Ella : — It seems to me that Frank's suggestion 
is a good one for it bears upon what we decided in 
the beginning, that we must apply the history of the 
past to see how it affects us to-day. 

Violet : — I should like to know how the people 
received the work of this convention. You know 
that it was all so secret no one knew what they were 
doing behind their closed doors. If the people 
were like they are to-day there would certainly be 
some opposition to the New Constitution. 

Elsie : — Good. Mr. Chairman, I move that Violet 
report the reception and rejection of the New Con- 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 189 

stitution by the people of the several States as a 
special topic for to-morrow. 

Robert : — Second the motion. 

Chairman : — Miss Brown, have you any sugges- 
tion as to time limit ? 

Teacher : — I suggest ten minutes. (Chairman 
puts vote and suggestion is carried.) 

Teacher : — Mr. Chairman, may we have the 
secretary read the several points in the assignment ? 

At the chairman's request the secretary reads and 
the class note as follows : Study of the New Constitu- 
tion, emphasizing points of similarity and difference. 

Seek reasons for same. 

Application of Constitution to our present-day life. 

Remedy for failures if officers fail to do their duty. 

Special topic ten minutes in length on the recep- 
tion of the Constitution by the people of the dif- 
ferent States. 

Teacher : — I think that will be enough — consult 
the text. In connection with the special topic some 
valuable material may be found in the Civics sec- 
tion in the reference room. The other references on 
this subject you had given you. Mr. Chairman, 
may we have the secretary read the points brought 
out by yesterday's recitation? 



190 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 



Questions and Exercises 

1. What is meant by the "socialized recitation" as the 
term is here used ? 

2. Define separately the word "socialized" as used in this 
connection. 

3. What are the teacher's functions in such a recitation ? 

4. What are the teacher's functions in the traditional 
recitation ? 

5. Compare the kinds of knowledge required of a teacher 
in connection with the two types of recitations. 

6. Suggest a method of proceeding in a socialized recitation 
and show the advantages of the method. 

7. Give some of the reasons why the socialized recitation 
enhances interest. 

8. What is the essence of the "gang spirit"? 

9. Compare the character and extent of the individual's 
responsibility in the two types of recitations. 

10. In what other ways is the socialized recitation likely to 
produce better reactions ? 

11. Some one says that the convention style of recitation 
will not do, because a few do all of the work. From your 
experience or observation do you find this true? If so, is 
this condition peculiar to that type of recitation? Suggest 
methods of counteracting this tendency in the socialized class. 
Would these prove effective in a class taught in the ordinary way ? 

12. Is one likely to overestimate the value of one's posses- 
sions, mental or physical? Are the pupils (and perhaps the 
teacher) likely to overestimate what is done in the socialized 
recitation ? What things may offset this tendency ? 

13. Compare the socialized recitation with a debate. 

14. Compare it with an ordinary discussion or argument. 



THE SOCIALIZED RECITATION 191 

15. Show just why the results of the socialized recitation 
are likely to be permanent. 

16. How does socialized class work affect the home and 
society ? 

17. Though school is a preparation for life, it, at the same 
time, is life. Show that the socialized recitation presupposes 
this truth. 

18. Compare the value of the assignment of a history lesson 
in the manner described in the notes quoted with the value of 
an ordinary assignment. 

19. Describe at least one other socialized recitation. 

20. Compare socialized work as described in Scott's Social 
Education (C. A. Scott, Ginn & Co., 1908) with the socialized 
recitation here described, as to (a) aim, (6) method, (c) results. 

21. "Lessons require two kinds of industry, the private 
individual industry and the social industry or class work." 
Is this true? If so, what sort of recitation-lesson will stimu- 
late each kind ? 



CHAPTER XVI 

AGRICULTURE 

Agriculture a typical study. — In the vitalized 
school the subject of agriculture is typical and may 
profitably be elaborated somewhat by way of illus- 
trating the relation of a subject to school procedure. 
From whatever angle we approach the subject of 
agriculture we find it inextricably connected with 
human life. This fact alone gives to it the rank of 
first importance. Its present prominence as a 
school study is conclusive evidence that those who 
are charged with the responsibility of administering 
the schools are becoming conscious of the need for 
vitalizing them. Time was when arithmetic was 
regarded as the most practical subject in the school 
and, therefore, it was given precedence over all 
others. History, grammar, and geography were 
relegated to secondary rank, and agriculture was 
not even thought of as a school study. But as 
population increased and the problem of providing 
food began to loom large in the public consciousness, 

192 



AGRICULTURE 193 

the subject of agriculture assumed an importance 
that rendered it worthy a place in the school curric- 
ulum. It is a high tribute to the school that when- 
ever any subject takes hold of the public mind the 
school is thought of at once as the best agency for 
promulgating that subject. The subjects of tem- 
perance and military training aptly illustrate this 
statement of fact. 

Its rapid development. — So soon, therefore, as 
the subject of agriculture became prominent in the 
public consciousness there ensued a speedy develop- 
ment of colleges and schools of agriculture for the 
training of teachers. This movement was prophetic 
of the plan and purpose to incorporate this study 
in the school regime. And this prophecy has been 
fulfilled, for the school now looks upon agriculture 
as a basic study. True, we are as yet only feeling 
our way, and that for the very good reason that the 
magnitude of the subject bewilders us. We have 
written many textbooks on the subject that were 
soon supplemented by better ones. The more the 
subject is studied, the more we appreciate its far- 
reaching ramifications. We find it attaching itself 
to many other subjects to which it seemed to have 
but remote relation in the earlier stages of our study. 



194 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

In brief, we are now on the borderland of a realiza- 
tion of the fact that agriculture is as broad as life 
and, therefore, must embrace many other studies 
that have a close relation to life. 

Relation to geology and other sciences. — In the 
beginning, geology and agriculture seemed far apart, 
but our closer study of agriculture has revealed the 
fact that they are intimately related. It remained 
for agriculture to lay the right emphasis upon 
geology. The study of the composition and nature 
of the soil carried us at once to a study of its origin 
and we found ourselves at the very door of geology. 
When we began to inquire how the soil came to be 
where it is and what it is, we found ourselves yearn- 
ing for new and clearer lines of demarcation in 
science, for we could scarcely distinguish between 
geology and physiography. We soon traced our 
alluvial plains back to their upland origin, and then 
we were compelled to explain their migration. This 
led us inevitably into the realm of meteorology, 
for, if we omit meteorology, the chain is broken 
and we lose our way in our search for the explana- 
tion we need. But having availed ourselves of the 
aid of meteorology, we have a story that is full of 
marvelous interest — the great story of the evolu- 



AGRICULTURE 195 

tion of the cornfield. In this story we find many 
alluring details of evaporation, air movements, pre- 
cipitation, erosion, and the attraction of gravitation. 
But in all this we are but lingering in the anteroom 
of agriculture. 

The importance of botany. — Advancing but a 
single step we find ourselves in the realm of botany, 
which is a field so vast and so fascinating that men 
have devoted an entire lifetime to its wonders, and 
then realized that they had but made a beginning 
in the way of exploring its possibilities. In our own 
time Mr. Burbank has made his name known 
throughout the world by his work in one phase of 
this subject, and a score of other Burbanks might 
be working with equal success in other branches of 
the subject and still not trench upon one another's 
domain. Venturesome, indeed, would be the prophet 
who would attempt to predict the developments in 
the field of botany in the next century in the way of 
providing food, shelter, and clothing for the race. 
The possibilities stagger the imagination and the 
prophet stands bewildered as he faces this ever- 
widening field. But botany, vast as it is seen to be, 
is only one of the branching sciences connected with 
agriculture. 



196 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Physics and chemistry. — Another advance brings 
us into the wide and fertile field of physics and chem- 
istry, for in these subjects we find the means of inter- 
preting much in agriculture that without their aid 
would elude our grasp. We have only to resolve a 
grain of corn into its component elements to realize 
the potency and scope of chemistry. Then if we 
inquire into the sources of these elements as they 
have come from the soil to form this grain of corn, 
the indispensability of a knowledge of chemistry 
will become more apparent. In our explanations 
we shall soon come upon capillary attraction, and 
the person is dull, indeed, who does not stand in 
awe before the mystery of this subject. If we 
broaden our inquiry so as to compass the evolution 
of an ear of corn, we shall realize that we have 
entered upon an inquiry of vast and fascinating 
import. The intricate and delicate processes of 
growth, combining, as they do, the influences of 
sunshine and moisture and the conversion into food 
products of elements whose origin goes back to 
primeval times, — these processes are altogether 
worthy of the combined enthusiasms of scientist 
and poet. 

Physiology. — But no mention has been made, 



AGRICULTURE 197 

as yet, of the science of physiology, which, alone, 
requires volumes. We have but to ask how wheat 
is converted into brain power to come upon a real- 
ization of the magnitude of the study of this science. 
We have only to relax the leash of fancy to see that 
there are no limits to the excursions that may be 
made in this field. If we allow fancy to roam, tak- 
ing the a posteriori course, we might begin with 
" Paradise Lost " and reach its sources in garden 
and field, in orchard, and in pasture where graze 
flocks and herds. But in any such fanciful meander- 
ing we should be well within the limits of physiology, 
and should be trying to interpret the adaptation of 
means to end, or, to use the language of the present, 
we should be making a quest to determine how the 
products of field, orchard, and pasture may be 
utilized that they may function in poetry, in oratory, 
in discoveries, and in inventions. In short, we 
should be trying to explain to ourselves how agri- 
culture functions in life. 

Art as an auxiliary. — In a recent work of fiction 
a chapter opens with a picture of a little girl eating 
a slice of bread and butter which is further sur- 
mounted by apple sauce and sugar. If the author 
of the book " Agriculture and Life " had only caught 



198 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

a glimpse of this picture, he might have changed 
the title of his book to " Life and Agriculture." 
He certainly would have given to the life element 
far more prominence than his book in its present 
form affords. His title makes a promise which the 
book itself does not redeem, more's the pity. If 
science would use art as an ally, it need not be less 
scientific, and its teachings would prove far more 
palatable. The little girl with her bread and butter 
would prove quite as apt as an introductory picture 
for a book on agriculture as for a work of fiction. 
It matters not that agriculture includes so many 
other sciences, for life is the great objective of the 
study of all these, and the little girl exemplifies life. 
Relation of sciences to life. — The pictures are 
practically endless with which we might introduce 
the study of agriculture — a boy in the turnip field, 
a milkmaid beside the cow, or Millet's celebrated 
picture " Feeding the Birds." And, sooner or later, 
pursuing our journey from such a starting point, 
we shall arrive at physiology, chemistry, botany, 
physics, meteorology, and geology, and still never 
be detached from the subject of life. In the school 
consciousness agriculture and domestic science seem 
far apart, but by right teaching they are made to 



AGRICULTURE 199 

merge in the subject of life. Upon that plane we 
find them to be complementary and reciprocal. 
In the same way chemistry, botany, and physiology 
merge in agriculture for the reason that all these 
sciences as well as agriculture have to do with life. 
In the traditional school chemistry is taught as 
chemistry — as a branch of science, and the learner 
is encouraged to seek for knowledge. In the vital- 
ized school the truths of chemistry are no less clearly 
revealed, but, in addition, their relations to life are 
made manifest, and the learner has a fuller appre- 
ciation of life, because of his study of chemistry. 

Traditional methods. — In the traditional school 
domestic science is taught that the girl may learn 
how to cook; but in the vitalized school the girl 
learns how to cook that she may be able to make 
life more agreeable and productive both for herself 
and for others. In the traditional school the study 
of agriculture consists of the testing of soils and 
seeds, working out scientific theories on the subject 
of the rotation of crops, testing for food values the 
various products of the farm, judging stock, study- 
ing the best method of propagating and caring 
for orchards, and testing for the most economic 
processes for conserving and marketing crops. In 



200 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

the vitalized school all this is done, but this is not 
the ultimate goal of the study. The end is not 
reached until all these ramifications have touched 
life. 

The child as the objective. — Reverting once 
more to the little girl of the picture, it will be con- 
ceded, upon careful consideration, that she is the 
center and focus of all the activities of mind and 
hand pertaining to agriculture. Every furrow that 
is plowed is plowed for her; every tree that is 
planted is planted for her; every crop that is har- 
vested is harvested for her; and every trainload 
of grain is moving toward her as its destination. 
But for her, farm machinery would be silent, or- 
chards would decay, trains would cease to move, 
and commerce would be no more. She it is that 
causes the wheels to turn, the harvesters to go forth 
to the fields, the experiment stations to be equipped 
and operated, the markets to throb with activity, 
and the ships of commerce to ply the ocean. For 
her the orchard, the granary, the dairy, and the 
loom give of their stores, and a million willing hands 
till, and toil, and spin. 

The story of bread. — But the bread and butter, 
the apple sauce, and the sugar ! They may not be 



AGRICULTURE 201 

omitted from the picture. The bread transports us 
to the fields of waving grain and conjures up in our 
imagination visions of harvesters with their imple- 
ments, wagons groaning beneath their golden loads, 
riches of grain pouring forth from machines, and 
brings to our nostrils the tang of the harvest time. 
Into this slice of bread the sun has poured his wealth 
of sunshine all the summer long, and into it the 
kindly clouds have distilled their treasures. In it 
we find the glory of the sunrise, the sparkling dew- 
drop, the song of the robin, the gentle mooing of the 
cows, the murmur of the brook, and the creaking 
of the mill wheel. In it we read the poetry of the 
morning and of the evening, the prophecy of the 
noontide heat, and the mighty proclamations of 
Nature. And it tells us charming stories of health, 
of rosy cheeks, of laughing eyes, of happiness, of 
love and service. 

Food and life. — The butter, the apple sauce, 
and the sugar each has a story of its own to tell 
that renders fiction weak by comparison. If our 
hearts were but attuned to the charm and romance 
of the stories they have to tell, every breakfast-table 
would be redolent with the fragrance of thanks- 
giving. If our hearts were responsive to the elo- 



202 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

quence of these stories, then eating would become a 
ceremony and upon the farmer who provides our 
food would descend our choicest benedictions. If 
the scales could but fall from our eyes that we might 
behold the visions which our food foretells, we could 
look down the vista of the years and see the chil- 
dren grown to manhood and womanhood, happy and 
busy in their work of enlarging and beautifying 
civilization. 

Agriculture the source of life. — Agriculture is 
not the sordid thing that our dull eyes and hearts 
would make it appear. In it we shall find the 
romance of a Victor Hugo, the poetry of a Shelley 
or a Shakespeare, the music of a Mozart, the elo- 
quence of a Demosthenes, and the painting of a 
Raphael, when we are able to interpret its real rela- 
tion to life. When the morning stars sang together 
they were celebrating the birth of agriculture, but 
man became bewildered in the mazes of commer- 
cialism and forgot the music of the stars. It is the 
high mission of the vitalized school to lead us back 
from our wanderings and to restore us to our right- 
ful estate amid the beauties, the inspiration, the 
poetry, and the far-reaching prophecies of agricul- 
ture. This it can do only by revealing to us the 



AGRICULTURE 203 

possibilities, the glories, and the joy of life and caus- 
ing us to know that agriculture is the source of life. 

Synthetic teaching. — The analytic teaching of 
agriculture will not avail ; we must have the syn- 
thetic also. Too long have we stopped short with 
analysis. We have come within sight of the prom- 
ised land but have failed to go up and possess it. 
We have studied the skeleton of agriculture but have 
failed to endow it with life. We must keep before 
our eyes the picture of the little girl. We must feel 
that the quintessence and spirit of agriculture 
throbs through all the arteries of life. Here lies 
the field in which imagination can do its perfect 
work. Here is a subject in which the vitalized 
school may find its highest and best justification. 
By no means is it the only study that fitly exempli- 
fies life, but, in this respect, it is typical, and there- 
fore a worthy study. On the side of analysis the 
teacher finds the blade of grass to be a thing of life ; 
on the side of synthesis she finds the blade of grass 
to be a life-giving thing. And the synthesis is no 
less in accord with science than the analysis. 

The element of faith. — Then again agriculture 
and life meet and merge on the plane of faith. 
The element of faith fertilizes life and causes it to 



204 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

bring forth in abundance. Man must have faith 
in himself, faith in the people about him, and faith 
in his own plans and purposes to make his life 
potent and pleasurable. By faith he attaches the 
truths of science to his plans and thus to the pro- 
cesses of life; for without the faith of man these 
truths of science are but static. Faith gives them 
their working qualities. There is faith in the plow- 
ing of each furrow, faith in the sowing of the seed, 
faith in the planting of each tree, and faith in the 
purchase of each machine. The farmer who builds 
a silo has faith that the products of the summer will 
bring joy and health to the winter. By faith he 
transmutes the mountains of toil into valleys of 
delight. Through the eyes of faith he sees the work 
of his hands bringing in golden sheaves of health and 
gladness to his own and other homes. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. In what ways is agriculture a typical study? 

2. Why was its importance not realized until recently? 

3. What educational agency in your state first reflected 
the need of scientific instruction in agriculture? 

4. The study of agriculture in the public school was at 
first ridiculed. Why? What is now the general attitude 
toward it? 

5. To what extent is the study of agriculture important 



AGRICULTURE 205 

in the city school ? Is there another subject as important for 
the city school as agriculture is for the rural school ? 

6. Mention some school subjects that are closely related 
to agriculture. Show how each is related to agriculture. 

7. Is Luther Burbank's work to be regarded as botanical 
or as agricultural ? Why ? To which of these sciences do 
plant variation and improvement properly belong? 

8. In many schools agriculture and domestic science are 
associated in the curriculum. What have they in common 
to justify this ? 

9. In the chemistry class in a certain school food prod- 
ucts are examined for purity. How will this increase the 
pupils' knowledge of chemistry? 

10. In a certain school six girls appointed for the day cook 
luncheon for one hundred persons, six other girls serve it, and 
six others figure the costs. Criticize this plan. 

11. Show how some particular phase of agricultural instruc- 
tion may function in agricultural practice. 

12. What benefits accrue to a teacher from the study of a 
subject in its ramifications ? 

13. In what respects is agriculture a noble pursuit? Com- 
pare it in this respect with law. How does agriculture lead 
to the exercise of faith? Teaching? Law? Electrical en- 
gineering ? 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 

An analogy. — If we may win a concept of the 
analogy between the vitalized school and a filtra- 
tion-plant, we shall, perhaps, gain a clearer notion 
of the purpose of the school and come upon a juster 
estimate of its processes. The purpose of the filtra- 
tion-plant is to purify, clarify, and render more con- 
ducive to life the stream that passes through, and 
the function of the school may be stated in the same 
terms. The stream that enters the plant is murky 
and deeply impregnated with impurities ; the same 
stream when it issues from the plant is clear, free 
from impurities, and, therefore, better in respect to 
nutritive qualities. The stream of life that flows 
into the school is composed of many heterogeneous 
elements ; the stream that issues from the school 
is far more homogeneous, clearer, more nearly free 
from impurities, and, therefore, more conducive 
to the life and health of the community. The 
stream of life that flows into the school is composed 

206 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 207 

of elements from all countries, languages, and condi- 
tions. In this are Greeks and barbarians, Jews and 
Gentiles, saints and sinners, the washed and the 
unwashed, the ignorant, the high, the low, the de- 
praved, the weak, and the strong. 

Life-giving properties. — The stream that issues 
from the school is the very antithesis of all this. 
Instead of all these heterogeneous elements, the 
stream when it comes from the school is composed 
wholly of Americans. A hundred flags may be seen 
in the stream that enters the school, but the stream 
that flows out from the school bears only the Ameri- 
can flag. The school has often been called the 
melting-pot, in which the many nationalities are 
fused ; but it is far more than that. True, somehow 
and somewhere in the school process these elements 
have been made to coalesce, but that is not the 
only change that is wrought. The volume of life 
that issues from the school is the same as that 
which enters, barring the leakage, but the result- 
ant stream is far more potent in life-giving prop- 
erties because of its passage through the school. 

Changes wrought. — When we see the stream 
entering the filtration-plant polluted with impuri- 
ties and then coming forth clear and wholesome, we 



208 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

know that something happened to that stream in 
transit. Similarly, when we see the stream of life 
entering the school as a mere aggregation of more or 
less discordant elements and then coming forth in 
a virtually unified homogeny, we know that some- 
thing has happened to that stream in its progress 
through the school. To determine just what hap- 
pens in either case is a task for experts and a task, 
moreover, that is well worth while. In either case 
we may well inquire whether the things that happen 
are the very best things that could possibly be made 
to happen ; and, if not, what improvements are 
possible and desirable. 

Another misconception. — The analogy between 
the plant and the school will not hold if we still 
retain in the parlance of school procedure the ex- 
pression " getting an education." The act of get- 
ting implies material substance. Education is not 
a substance but a process, and it is palpably impos- 
sible to get a process. So there can be no such 
thing as getting an education, in spite of the tenacity 
of the expression. Even to state the fact would 
seem altogether trite, were we not confronted every 
day with the fact that teachers and parents are 
either unable or unwilling to substitute some right 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 209 

expression for this wrong one. Education is not 
the process of getting but, rather, the process of 
becoming, and the difference is as wide as the dif- 
ference between the true and the false. 

Just how long it will require to eradicate this con- 
ception from the school and society no one can 
well conjecture. Its presence in our nomenclature 
reveals, in a marked way, the strength of habit. 
Many teachers will give willing assent to the fact 
and then use the expression again in their next 
sentence. Certainly we shall not even apprehend 
the true function and procedure of the vitalized 
school until we have eliminated this expression. If 
we admit the validity of the contention as to this 
expression, then we may profitably resume the con- 
sideration of our analogy, for, in that case, we shall 
find in this analogy no ineptitude. 

The validity of the analogy. — We cause the 
stream of water to pass through the filtration-plant 
that it may become rectified ; we cause the stream 
of life to pass through the school that it may become 
rectified. When the stream of water becomes recti- 
fied, bodily disease is averted ; when the stream of life 
is rectified, mental and spiritual disease is averted. 
The analogy, therefore, holds good whether we con- 



210 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

sider the process itself or its effect. We have only 
to state the case thus to have opened up for us a 
wide field for profitable speculation. The diseases 
of mind and spirit that invade society are the causes 
that lie back of our police courts, our prisons, and, 
very often, our almshouses. Hence, if the stream of 
life could be absolutely rectified, these undesirable 
institutions would disappear, and life for the entire 
community would be far more agreeable by reason 
of their absence. 

Function of the school. — The school, then, is 
established and administered to carry on this pro- 
cess of rectification. By means of this process 
ignorance becomes intelligence, coarseness becomes 
culture, strife becomes peace, impurity becomes 
purity, disease becomes health, and darkness be- 
comes light. The child comes into the school not 
to get something but to have something done to and 
for him that he may become something that he was 
not before, and, therefore, that he may the better 
execute his functions as a member of society. In 
short, he comes into the school that he may pass 
through the process of rectification. In this pro- 
cess he loses neither his name, his extraction, his 
identity, nor his individuality. On the contrary, 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 211 

all these attributes are so acted upon by the process 
that they become assets of the community. 

Language. — In order to lead to a greater degree 
of clarity it may be well to be even more specific 
in explaining this process of rectification. Language 
is fundamental in all the operations of society. It is 
indispensable to the grocer, the farmer, the lawyer, 
the physician, the manufacturer, the housewife, 
and the legislator. It is the means by which mem- 
bers of society communicate with one another, and 
without communication, in some form, there can 
be no social intercourse, and, therefore, no society. 
People are all interdependent, and language is the 
bond of union. They must use the same language, 
of course, and the words must be invested with the 
same meaning in order to be intelligible. 

Language a social study. — Just here great care 
must be exercised or we shall go astray in depicting 
the work of the school in dealing with this subject 
of language. The child comes into the school with 
language of a sort, but it needs rectification in order 
to render it readily available for the purposes of 
society. Herein lies the crux of the whole matter. 
If this child were not to become a member of society, 
it would matter little what sort of language he uses 



212 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

or whether he uses any language. If he were to be 
banished to some island there to dwell alone, lan- 
guage would be unnecessary. Hence, his study of 
language in the school is, primarily, for the well- 
being of society and not for himself. Language is 
so essential to the life processes that, without it, 
society would be thrown out of balance. The 
needs of society are paramount, and hence language 
as it concerns the child relates to him chiefly if not 
wholly as a member of society. 

Grammar. — Grammar is nothing else than lan- 
guage reduced to a system of common terms that 
have been agreed upon in the interests of society. 
People have entered into a linguistic compact, an 
agreement that certain words and combinations of 
words shall be understood to mean certain things. 
The tradesman must understand the purchaser or 
there can be no exchange. The ticket-agent must 
understand the prospective traveler or the latter 
cannot take the journey and reach his destination. 
Hence, grammar, with all that the term implies, is 
a means of facilitating the activities of society and 
pertains to the individual only in his relation to 
society. 

Needs of society. — True, the individual will 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 213 

find life more agreeable in society if he understands 
the common language, just as the traveler is more 
comfortable in a foreign country if he understands 
its language. But we need emphasis upon the 
statement that we have grammar in the school be- 
cause it is one of the needs of society. The indi- 
vidual may not need chemistry, but society does 
need it, and the school must somehow provide it 
because of this need. Hence we place chemistry 
in the school as one of the ingredients of the solvent 
which we employ in the process of rectification. 
Those who are susceptible to the influences of this 
ingredient will become inoculated with it and bear 
it forth into the uses of society. 

Caution. — But just here we find the most deli- 
cate and difficult task of the school. Here we 
encounter some of the fundamental principles of 
psychology as explained and emphasized by James, 
McDougall, and Stray er. Here we must begin our 
quest for the native tendencies that condition 
successful teaching. We must discover what pupils 
are susceptible to chemistry before we can proceed 
with the work of inoculation. This has been the 
scene and source of many tragedies. We have been 
wont to ask whether chemistry will be good for the 



214 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

boy instead of making an effort to discover whether 
the boy will be good for chemistry — whether 
his native tendencies render him susceptible to 
chemistry. 

Some mistakes. — Our procedure has often come 
but little short of an inquisition. We have followed 
our own predilections and prejudices instead of being 
docile at the feet of Nature and asking her what to 
do. We have applied opprobrious epithets and 
resorted to ostracism. We have been freely dispens- 
ing suspensions and expulsions in a vain effort to 
prove that the school is both omniscient and omnip- 
otent. We have tried to transform a poet into a 
mechanic, a blacksmith into an artist, and an as- 
tronomer into a ditcher. And our complacency in 
the presence of the misfits of the school is the saddest 
tragedy of all. We have taken counsel with tradi- 
tion rather than with the nature of the pupil, the 
while rejoicing in our own infallibility. 

Native dispositions. — Society needs only a lim- 
ited number of chemists and only such as have the 
native tendencies that will make chemistry most 
effective in the activities of society. But we have 
been proceeding upon the agreeable assumption 
that every pupil has such native tendencies. Such 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 215 

an assumption absolves the school, of course, from 
the necessity of discovering what pupils are sus- 
ceptible to chemistry and of devising ways and 
means of making this important discovery. Be- 
cause we do not know how to make this discovery 
we find solace in the assumption that it cannot or 
need not be made. We then proceed to apply the 
Procrustean bed principle with the very acme of 
sang jroid. Here is work for the efficiency expert. 
When children are sitting at the table of life, the 
home and the school in combination ought to be 
able to discover what food they crave and not in- 
sist upon their eating olives when they really crave 
oatmeal. 

The ideal of the school. — We shall not have 
attained to right conditions until such time as the 
stream of life that issues from the school shall com- 
bine the agencies, in right proportions and relations, 
that will conserve the best interests of society and 
administer its activities with the maximum of effi- 
ciency. This is the ideal that the school must hold 
up before itself as the determining plan in its every 
movement. But this ideal presupposes no misfits 
in society. If there are such, then it will decline in 
some degree from the plane of highest efficiency. 



216 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

If there are some members of society who are strain- 
ing at the leash which Nature provided for them 
and are trying to do work for which they have 
neither inclination nor aptitude, they cannot render 
the best service, and society suffers in consequence. 

Misfits. — The books teem with examples of 
people who are striving to find themselves by find- 
ing their work. But nothing has been said of 
society in this same strain. We have only to think 
of society as composed of all the people to realize 
that only by finding its work can society find itself. 
And so long as there is even one member of society 
who has not found himself, so long must we look 
upon this one exception as a discordant note in the 
general harmony. If one man is working at the 
forge who by nature is fitted for a place at the desk, 
then neither this man nor society is at its best. 
And a large measure of the responsibility for such 
discord and misfits in society must be laid at the 
door of the school because of its inability to discover 
native tendencies. 

Common interests. — There are many interests 
that all children have in common when they enter 
the school in the morning, and these interests may 
well become the starting points in the day's work. 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 217 

The conversations at breakfast tables and the 
morning paper beget and stimulate many of these 
interests and the school does violence to the children, 
the community, and itself if it attempts to taboo these 
interests. Its work is to rectify and not to suppress. 
When the children return to their homes in the even- 
ing they should have clearer and larger conceptions 
of the things that animated them in the morning. 
If they come into the school all aglow with interest 
in the great snowstorm of the night before, the 
teacher does well to hold the lesson in decimals in 
abeyance until she has led around to the subject by 
means of readings or stories that have to do with 
snowstorms. The paramount and common inter- 
est of the children in the morning is snow and, 
therefore, the day should hold snow in the fore- 
ground in their thinking, so that, at the close of the 
day, their horizon in the snow-world may be ex- 
tended, and so that they may thus be able to make 
contributions to the home on the subject of snow. 
Real interests. — In the morning the pupils had 
objective snow in which they rollicked and gamboled 
in glee. All day long they had subjective snow in 
which the teacher with fine technique caused them 
to revel ; and, in the evening, their concept of snow 



218 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

was so much enlarged that they experienced a fresh 
access of delight. And that day was their snow 
epiphany. On that day there was no break in the 
stream of life at the schoolhouse door. There was 
no supplanting of the real interests of the morning 
with fictitious interests of the school, to be endured 
with ill grace until the real interests of the morning 
could be resumed in the evening. On the contrary, 
by some magic that only the vitalized teacher knows, 
every exercise of the day seemed to have snow as its 
center. Snow seemed to be the major in the read- 
ing, in the spelling, in the geography, and in the 
history. 

On that day they became acquainted with Hanni- 
bal and his struggles through the snow of the Alps. 
On that day they learned of the avalanche, its origin, 
its devastating power, and, of course, its spelling. 
On that day they read " Snow Bound " and the 
snow poems of Longfellow and Lowell. Thus the 
stream of life was clarified, rectified, and amplified 
as it passed through the school, and, incidentally, 
the teacher and the school were glorified in their 
thoughts. 

Circus day. — But snow is merely typical. On 
other days other interests are paramount. On 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 219 

circus day the children, again, have a common 
interest which affords the teacher a supreme oppor- 
tunity. The day has been anticipated by the 
teacher, and the pupils have cause to wonder how 
and whence she ever accumulated such a wealth of 
pictures of animal life. All day long they are re- 
galed with a subjective menagerie, and when they 
attend the circus in the evening they astonish their 
parents by the extent and accuracy of their informa- 
tion. They know the animals by name, their habitat, 
their habits, their food, and their uses. In short, 
they seemed to have compassed a working knowl- 
edge of the animal kingdom in a single day through 
the skill of the teacher who knows how to make the 
school reenforce their life interests. 

The quality of life. — If we now extend the scope 
of common interests that belong in the category 
with the snow and the animals, we shall readily see 
that the analogy of the filtration-plant holds good 
in the entire regime of the vitalized school. But 
we must never lose sight of the additional fact that 
the quality of life that issues from the school is far 
better because of its passage through the school. 
The volume may be less, through unfortunate leak- 
age, but the quality is so much better that its value 



THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

to society is enhanced a hundred- or a thousand-fold. 
The people who pass through the school have 
learned a common language, have been imbued with 
a common purpose, have learned how to live and 
work in hearty accord, have come to revere a com- 
mon flag, and have become citizens of a common 
country. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is the general function of the school? 

2. What is meant by the school's being the "melting-pot" ? 

3. What objection is there to the expression "getting an 
education"? What would be a better expression to indicate 
the purpose of attending school? 

4. What diseases that invade society would be checked if 
in school the stream of life were rectified ? 

5. Why is it desirable that pupils shall not lose their in- 
dividuality in passing through school ? 

6. What is the primary purpose of each school study, for 
instance, language ? 

7. What is the true purpose of grammar ? 

8. What do these functions of the school and of its studies 
teach us regarding the adaptation of subjects and methods to 
the individual ? 

9. Tell something of the work done in vocational guidance 
in Boston. 

10. Tell something of the methods employed by some cor- 
porations in choosing employees naturally fitted for the work. 

11. Tell something of the psychological tests for vocations 
devised by Professor Miinsterberg. (Psychology and Indus- 



THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY 221 

trial Efficiency, Hugo Miinsterberg, Houghton Mifflin Co., 
1913.) 

12. What do you think is the practicable way of helping the 
pupils in your school to develop along the lines of their natural 
endowment ? 

13. What is the effect on society when a man does work 
for which he is not fitted? 

14. Show some ways in which the interests of the school as 
a whole may be fostered and a natural development of the class 
as a whole be secured. 

15. There has been a big fire in town. Show how the interest 
in this event may be used in the day's work. 

16. In what ways is one who has had private instruction 
likely to be a poorer citizen than one who has attended school ? 

17. What conditions'] might cause some of those who go 
through school to be polluted instead of rectified? Whose 
fault would it be ? 

18. What questions should we ask ourselves about the 
things that are being done in our schools ? 



CHAPTER XVIII 

POETRY AND LIFE 

Poetry defined. — Poetry has been defined as 
" a message from the heart of the artist to the heart 
of the man " ; and, seeing that the heart is the 
center and source of life, it follows that poetry is a 
means of effecting a transfusion of life. The poet 
ponders life long and deeply and then gives forth 
an interpretation in artistic form that is surcharged 
with the very quintessence of life. The poet absorbs 
life from a thousand sources — the sky, the forest, 
the mountain, the sunrise, the ocean, the storm, 
the child in the mother's arms, and the man at his 
work, and then transmits it that the recipient may 
have a new influx of life. The poet's quest is life, 
his theme is life, and his gift to man is life. His 
mission is to gain a larger access of life and to give 
life in greater abundance. He gains the meaning 
of life from the snowflake and the avalanche ; from 
the grain of sand and the fertile valley; from the 
raindrop and the sea ; from the chirp of the cricket 

222 



POETRY AND LIFE 223 

and the crashing of the thunder; from the firefly 
and the lightning's flash ; and from Vesuvius and 
Sinai. To know life he listens to the baby's prattle, 
the mother's lullaby, and the father's prayer ; he 
looks upon faces that show joy and sorrow, hope and 
despair, defeat and triumph ; and he feels the pulsa- 
tions of the tides, the hurricane, and the human 
heart. 

How the poet learns life. — He sits beside the 
bed of sickness and hears the feeble and broken 
words that tell of the past, the present, and the 
future ; he visits the field of battle and sees the 
wreckage of the passions of men ; he goes into the 
dungeon and hears the ravings and revilings of a 
distorted soul ; he visits pastoral scenes where peace 
and plenty unite in a song of praise ; he rides the 
mighty ship and knows the heartbeats of the ocean ; 
he sits within the church and opens the doors of 
his soul to its holy influences ; he enters the hovel 
whose squalor proclaims it the abode of ignorance 
and vice; he visits the home of happiness where 
industry and frugality pour forth their bounteous 
gifts and love sways its gentle scepter ; and he sits 
at the feet of his mother and imbibes her gracious 
spirit. 



224 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Transfusion of life. — And then he writes ; and 
as he writes his pen drips life. He knows and feels, 
and, therefore, he expresses, and his words are the 
distillations of life. His spiritual percipience has 
rendered his soul a veritable garden of emotions, 
and with his pen he transplants these in the written 
page. And men see and come to pluck the flowers 
to transplant again in their own souls that they, 
too, may have a garden like unto his. His elan 
carries over into the lives of these men and they 
glow with the ardor of his emotions and are inspired 
to deeds of courage, of service, and of solace. For 
every flower plucked from his garden another grows 
in its stead more beautiful and more fragrant than 
its fellow, and he is reinspired as he inspires others. 
And thus in this transfusion of life there is an under- 
tow that carries back into his own life and makes 
his spirit more fertile. 

Aspiration. — When he would teach men to as- 
pire he writes " Excelsior " and so causes them to 
know that only he who aspires really lives. They 
see the groundling, the boor, the drudge, and the 
clown content to dwell in the valley amid the loaves 
and fishes of animal desires, while the man who as- 
pires is struggling toward the heights whence he 



POETRY AND LIFE 225 

may gain an outlook upon the glories that are, know 
the throb and thrill of new life, and experience the 
swing and sweep of spiritual impulses. He makes 
them to know that the man who aspires recks not 
of cold, of storm, or of snow, if only he may reach 
the summit and lave his soul in the glory that crowns 
the marriage of earth and sky. They feel that the 
aspirant is but yielding obedience to the behests of 
his better self to scale the heights where sublimity 
dwells. 

Perseverance. — Or he writes the fourth "iEneid" 
to make men feel that the palm of victory comes 
only to those who persevere to the end ; that duty 
does not abdicate in favor of inclination ; and that 
the high gods will not hold guiltless the man who 
stops short of Italy to loiter and dally in Carthage 
even in the sunshine of a Dido's smile. When Italy 
is calling, no siren song of pleasure must avail to lure 
him from his course, nor must his sail be furled until 
the keel grates upon the Italian shore. His navi- 
gating skill must guide him through the perils of 
Scylla and Charybdis and the stout heart of man- 
hood must bear him past Mount ^Etna's fiery menace. 
His dauntless courage must brave the anger of the 
greedy waves and boldly ride them down. Nor 

Q 



226 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

must his cup of joy be full until the wished-for land 
shall greet his eager eyes. 

Overweening ambition. — Or, again, the poet 
may yearn to teach the wrong of overweening, 
vaulting ambition and he writes " Paradise Lost" and 
" Recessional." He pictures Satan overthrown, like 
the Giants who would climb into the throne on 
Olympus. He pictures Hell as the fitting place for 
Satan overthrown, and in his own place he pictures 
the outcast and downcast Satan writhing and curs- 
ing because he was balked of his unholy ambition. 
And, lest mortals sink from their high estate, borne 
down by their sins of unsanctified ambition, he prays, 
and prays again, " Lord God of Hosts, be with us 
yet, lest we forget, lest we forget." And the prayer 
echoes and reechoes in the soul of the man, and the 
world sees his lips moving in the prayer of the poet, 
" Lest we forget, lest we forget." 

Native land. — Or, again, he writes Bannockburn 
and the spirit is fired with patriotic devotion to 
native land. We hear the bagpipe and the drum 
and see the martial clans gathering in serried ranks 
and catch the glint of their arms and armor as they 
flash back the sunlight. We hear their lusty calls 
as they rush together to defend the hills and the 



POETRY AND LIFE 227 

homes they love. We see, again, the Wallace and 
the Bruce inciting valorous men to deeds of heroism 
and hear the hills reechoing with the shock of steel 
upon steel. From hill to hill the pibroch leaps, and 
hearts and feet quicken at its sound. And mothers 
are pressing their bairns to their bosoms as they 
cheer their loved ones away to the strife. And while 
their eyes are weeping their hearts are saying : 

" Wha will be a traitor knave ? 
Wha can fill a coward's grave ? 
Wha so base as be a slave ? 
Let him turn and flee ! " 

Faith. — And after the sounds of battle are hushed 
he sings " To Mary in Heaven " and causes the man 
to stand in the presence of the Burning Bush and to 
hear the command " Put off thy shoes from off thy 
feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy 
ground." And the heart of the man grows tender 
as the poet opens his eyes to catch a glimpse of the 
life of faith that the star foretells even as the Star of 
Bethlehem was prophetic. And, through the eyes 
of the lover, he looks over into the other life and 
knows that his faith is not in vain. And when faith 
sits enthroned, the music of the brook at his feet 
becomes sweeter, the stars shine more brightly, the 



THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

earth becomes a place of gladness, and life is far 
more worth while. The poet has caused the scales 
to fall from his eyes and through them the light of 
Heaven has streamed into his soul. 

The teacher's influx of life. — And the teacher 
imbibes the spirit of the poet and becomes vital and 
thus becomes attuned to all life. Flowers spring 
up in her pathway because they are claiming kinship 
with the flowers that are blooming in her soul. The 
insect chirps forth its music, and her own spirit joins 
in the chorus of the forest. The brooklet laughs 
as it ripples its way toward the sea, and her spirit 
laughs in unison because the poet has poured his 
laughter into her soul. She stands unafraid in the 
presence of the storm because her feeling for majesty 
overmasters her apprehension of danger. The light- 
ning's flash may rend the oak but, even so, she stands 
in mute admiration at this wondrous manifestation 
of life. Her quickened spirit responds to the roll 
and reverberation of the thunder because she has 
grown to womanhood through the poet's copious 
draughts of life. 

The book of life. — The voices of the night en- 
chant her and the stars take her into their counsels. 
The swaying tree speaks her language because both 



POETRY AND LIFE 

speak the language of life. She takes delight in the 
lexicon of the planets because it interprets to her the 
book of life, and in the revelations of this book she 
finds her chief joy. For her there are no dull 
moments whether she wanders by the river, through 
the glades, or over the hills, because she is ever turn- 
ing the pages of this book. She moves among the 
things of life and accounts them all her friends and 
companions. She knows their moods and their 
language and with them holds intimate communion. 
They smile upon her because she can reciprocate 
their smiles. Life to her is a buoyant, a joyous 
experience each hour of the day because the poet 
has poured into her spirit its fuller, deeper meanings. 
The teaching. — And because the poet has touched 
her spirit with the wand of his power the waters of 
life gush forth in sparkling abundance. And chil- 
dren come to the fountain of her life and drink of its 
waters and are thereby refreshed and invigorated. 
Then they smile back their gratitude to her in their 
exuberance of joyous life. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is poetry ? 

2. What is the purpose of rhyme ? 



230 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

3. May writing have the essentials of poetry and yet have 
no regular rhythm ? What of the Psalms ? 

4. Why is poetry especially valuable to the teacher? 

5. Show how some poem other than those mentioned in 
the chapter teaches a lesson or gives an inspiration. 

6. Name, if you can, some methods of treatment that 
cause poetry to fail to affect the lives of the pupils as it should. 

7. Suggest uses of poetry and the treatment that will 
insure the right results. 

8. Is there danger that a teacher may become too appre- 
ciative or susceptible — too poetic in temperament ? Recall 
observations of those who were either too much so or too little. 

9. Is there danger that one may have too much of a good 
quality, or is the danger not in having too little of some other 
quality ? 

10. Show how a wide and appreciative reading of poetry 
makes for a proper balance of temperament. 



CHAPTER XIX 

A SENSE OF HUMOR 

An American story. — There is a story to the effect 
that a certain Mr. Jones was much given to boast- 
ing of his early rising. He stoutly maintained that 
he was going about his work every morning at three 
o'clock. Some of his friends were inclined to be in- 
credulous as to his representations and entered into 
a kindly conspiracy to put them to the test. Ac- 
cordingly one of the number presented himself at 
the kitchen door of the Jones residence one morning 
at half -past three and made inquiry of Mrs. Jones 
as to the whereabouts of her husband, asking if he 
was at home. In a very gracious manner Mrs. 
Jones replied : " No, he isn't here now. He was 
around here early this morning but I don't really 
know where he is now." This is a clean, fine, typical 
American story, and, by means of such a story, we 
can test for a sense of humor. The boy in school 
will laugh at this story both because it is a good one 
and because he is a normal boy. If he does not 

231 



232 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

laugh at such a story, there is cause for anxiety as 
to his mental condition or attitude. If the teacher 
cannot or does not laugh, a disharmony is generated 
at once between teacher and pupil which militates 
against the well-being of the school. If the teacher 
reprimands the boy, the boy as certainly discredits 
the teacher and all that she represents. If she cannot 
enjoy such a wholesome story, he feels that her arith- 
metic, geography, and grammar are responsible, and 
these studies decline somewhat in his esteem. More- 
over, he feels that the teacher's reprimand was 
unwarranted and unjust and he fain would consort 
with people of his own kind. Many a boy deserts 
school because the teacher is devoid of the saving 
grace of humor. Her inability to see or have any 
fun in life makes him uncomfortable and he seeks 
a more agreeable environment. 

Humor in its manifestations. — A sense of humor 
diffuses itself through all the activities of life, giving 
to them all a gentle quality that eliminates asperi- 
ties and renders them gracious and amiable. Like 
fireflies that bespangle the darkness of the night, 
humor scintillates through all life's phases and 
activities and causes the day to go more pleasantly 
and effectively on. It twinkles through the thoughts 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 233 

and gives to language a sparkle and a nicety that 
cause it to appeal to the artistic sense. It gives to 
discourse a piquancy that stimulates but does not 
irritate. It is the flavor that gives to speech its 
undulatory quality, and redeems it from desert same- 
ness. It pervades the motives and gives direction 
as well as a pleasing fertility to all behavior. It is 
pervasive without becoming obtrusive. It steals 
into the senses as quietly as the dawn and causes 
life to smile. Wit may flash, but humor blithely 
glides into the consciousness with a radiant and 
kindly smile upon its face. Wit may sting and 
inflame, but humor soothes and comforts. The man 
who has a generous admixture of humor in his nature 
is an agreeable companion and a sympathetic friend 
to grown-up people, to children, and to animals. 
His spirit is genial, and people become kindly and 
magnanimous in his presence. 

One of John B. Gough's stories. — The celebrated 
John B. Gough was wont to tell a story that was 
accounted one of his many masterpieces. It was a 
story of a free-for-all convention where any one, 
according to inclination, had the privilege of freely 
speaking his sentiments. When the first speaker had 
concluded, a man in the audience called lustily for 



234 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

a speech from Mr. Henry. Then another spoke, 
and, again, more lustily than before, the man de- 
manded Mr. Henry. More and more vociferous 
grew the call for Mr. Henry after each succeeding 
speech until, at last, the chairman with some ac- 
rimony exclaimed : " The man who is calling for Mr. 
Henry will please be quiet. It is Mr. Henry who is 
now speaking." The man thus rebuked was some- 
what crestfallen, but managed to say, as if in a half- 
soliloquy : " Mr. Henry ! Why, that ain't Mr. Henry. 
That's the little chap that told me to holler." 

At the conclusion of one of his lectures in which 
Mr. Gough told this story in his inimitable style, 
a man came to the platform and explained to him 
that he had a friend who seemed to lack a sense of 
humor and wondered if he might not prevail upon 
Mr. Gough to tell him this particular story in the 
hope that it would cause him to laugh. In a spirit 
of adventure Mr. Gough consented, and at the time 
appointed told the story to the old gentleman in 
his own best style. The old gentleman seemed to 
be deeply interested, but at the conclusion of the 
story, instead of laughing heartily as his friend had 
hoped, he solemnly asked, " What did he tell him 
to holler fur ? " 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 235 

The man who lacks a sense of humor. — There 
was no answer to this question, or, rather, he himself 
was the answer. Such a man is obviously outside 
the pale, without hope of redemption. If such a 
story, told by such a raconteur, could not touch 
him, he is hopeless. In his spiritual landscape there 
are no undulations, but it reveals itself as a mo- 
notonous dead-level without stream or verdure. 
He eats, and sleeps, and walks about, but he walks 
in a spiritual daze. To him life must seem a somber, 
drab affair. If he were a teacher in a traditional 
school, he would chill and depress, but he might be 
tolerated because a sense of humor is not one of the 
qualifications of the teacher. But, in the vitalized 
school, he would be intolerable. If children should 
go to such a teacher for spiritual refreshment, they 
would return thirsty. He has nothing to give them, 
no bubbling water of life, no geniality, no such graces 
of the spirit as appeal to buoyant childhood. He 
lacks a sense of humor, and that lack makes arid the 
exuberant sources of life. He may solve problems 
in arithmetic, but he cannot compass the solution 
of the problem of life. The children pity him, and 
no greater calamity can befall a teacher than to de- 
serve and receive the pity of a child. He might, 






236 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

in a way, teach anatomy, but not physiology. He 
might be able to deal with the analytic. He might 
succeed as curator in a museum of mummies, but he 
will fail as a teacher of children. 

Story of a boy. — A seven-year-old boy who was 
lying on his back on the floor asked his father the 
question, " How long since the world was born ? " 
The father replied, " Oh, about four thousand years." 
In a few moments the child said in a tone of finality, 
" That isn't very long." Then after another inter- 
val, he asked, " What was there before the world 
was born? " To this the father replied, " Nothing." 
After a lapse of two or three minutes the child gave 
vent to uncontrollable laughter which resounded 
throughout the house. When, at length, the father 
asked him what he was laughing at, he could scarcely 
control his laughter to answer. But at last he 
managed to reply, " I was laughing to see how funny 
it was when there wasn't anything." 

The child's imagination. — The philosopher could 
well afford to give the half of his kingdom to be able 
to see what that child saw. Out of the gossamer 
threads of fancy his imagination had wrought a 
pattern that transcends philosophy. The picture 
that his imagination painted was so extraordinary 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 237 

that it produced a paroxysm of laughter. That 
picture is far beyond the ken of the philosopher and 
he will look for it in vain because he has grown away 
from the child in power of imagination and has lost 
the child's sense of humor. What that child saw 
will never be known, for the pictures of fancy are 
ephemeral, but certain it is that the power of im- 
agination and a keen sense of humor are two of the 
attributes of childhood whose loss should give both 
his father and his teacher poignant regrets. 

The little girl and her elders. — The little girl 
upon the beach invests the tiny wavelets not only 
with life and intelligence, but, also, with a sense of 
humor as she eludes their sly advances to engulf her 
feet. She laughs in glee at their watery pranks as 
they twinkle and sparkle, now advancing, now re- 
ceding, trying to take her by surprise. She chides 
them for their duplicity, then extols them for their 
prankish playfulness. She makes them her com- 
panions, and they laugh in chorus. If she knows 
of sprites, and gnomes, and nymphs, and fairies, 
she finds them all dancing in glee at her feet in the 
form of rippling wavelets. And while she is thus 
refreshing her spirit from the brimming cup of life, 
her matter-of-fact elders are reproaching her for 



238 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

getting her dress soiled. To the parent or the 
teacher who lacks a sense of humor and cannot 
enter into the little girl's conception of life, a dress 
is of more importance than the spirit of the child. 
But the teacher or the parent who has the " aptitude 
for vicariousness " that enables her to enter into the 
child's life in her fun and frolic with the playful 
water, and can feel the presence of the nymphs 
among the wavelets, — such a teacher or parent 
will adorn the school or the home and endear herself 
to the child. 

Lincoln's humor. — The life of Abraham Lincoln 
affords a notable illustration of the saving power of 
humor. Reared in conditions of hardship, his early 
life was essentially drab and prosaic. In tempera- 
ment he was serious, with an inclination toward the 
morbid, but his sense of humor redeemed the situa- 
tion. When clouds of gloom and discouragement 
lowered in his mental sky, his keen sense of humor 
penetrated the darkness and illumined his pathway. 
He was sometimes the object of derision because 
men could not comprehend the depth and bigness 
of his nature, and his humor was often accounted a 
weakness. But the Gettysburg speech rendered 
further derision impossible and the wondrous al- 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 239 

chemy of that address transmuted criticism into 
willing praise. 

Humor betokens deep feeling. — Laughter and 
tears issue from the same source, we are told, and 
the Gettysburg speech revealed a depth and a quality 
of tenderness that men had not, before, been able to 
recognize or appreciate. The absence of a sense of 
humor betokens shallowness in that it reveals an 
inability to feel deeply. People who feel deeply often 
laugh in order to forestall tears. Lincoln was a great 
soul and his sense of humor was one element of his 
greatness. His apt stories and his humorous per- 
sonal experiences often carried off a situation where 
cold logic would have failed. Whether his sense of 
humor was a gift or an acquisition, it certainly 
served the nation well and gave to us all an example 
that is worthy of emulation. 

The teacher of English. — Many teachers could, 
with profit to themselves and their schools, sit at 
the feet of Abraham Lincoln, not only to learn Eng- 
lish but also to imbibe his sense of humor. Nothing 
is more pathetic than the efforts of a teacher who 
lacks a sense of humor to teach a bit of English that 
abounds in humor, by means of the textual notes. 
The notes are bad enough, in all conscience, but the 



240 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

teacher's lack of humor piles Ossa upon Pelion. 
The solemnity that pervades such mechanical teach- 
ing would be farcical were it not so pathetic. The 
teacher who cannot indulge in a hearty, honest, 
ringing laugh with her pupils in situations that are 
really humorous is certain to be laughed at by her 
pupils. In her work, as in Lincoln's, a sense of 
humor will often save the day. 

Mark Twain as philosopher. — Mark Twain will 
ever be accounted a very prince of humorists, and so 
he was. But he was more than that. Upon the 
current of his humor were carried precious cargoes 
of the philosophy of life. His humor is often so 
subtle that the superficial reader fails to appreciate 
its fine quality and misses the philosophy altogether. 
To extract the full meaning from his writing one must 
be able to read not only between the lines but also 
beneath the lines. The subtle quality of his humor 
defies both analysis and explanation. If it fails to 
tell its own story, so much the worse for the reader. 
To such humor as his, explanation amounts to an 
impertinence. People can either appreciate it or 
else they cannot, and there's the end of the matter. 

In the good time to come when the school teaches 
reading for the purpose of pleasure and not for ex- 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 241 

amination purposes, we shall have Mark Twain as 
one of our authors ; and it is to be hoped that we 
shall have editions devoid of notes. The notes may 
serve to give the name of the editor a place on the 
title page, but the notes cannot add to the enjoy- 
ment of the author's genial humor. Mark Twain 
reigns supreme, and the editor does well to stand 
uncovered in his presence and to withhold his pen. 

A Twain story. — One of Mark Twain's stories 
is said to be one of the most humorous stories extant. 
The story relates how a soldier was rushing off the 
battlefield in retreat when a companion, whose leg 
was shattered, begged to be carried off the field. 
The appeal met a willing response and soon the 
soldier was bearing his companion away on his 
shoulder, his head hanging down the soldier's 
back. Unknown to the soldier a cannon ball 
carried away the head of his companion. Accosted 
by another soldier, he was asked why he was 
carrying a man whose head had been shot away. 
He stoutly denied the allegation and, at length, 
dropped the headless body to prove the other's 
hallucination. Seeing that the man's head was, in 
truth, gone, he exclaimed, " Why, the durn fool 
told me it was his leg." 



242 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Humor defies explanation. — The humor of this 
story is cumulative. We may not parse it, we may 
not analyze it, we may not annotate it. We can 
simply enjoy it. And, if we cannot enjoy it, we may 
pray for a spiritual awakening, for such an endow- 
ment of the sense of humor as will enable us to 
enjoy, that we may no longer lead lives that are 
spiritually blind. Bill Nye wrote : 

" The autumn leaves are falling, 
They are falling everywhere ; 
They are falling through the atmosphere 
And likewise through the air." 

Woe betide the teacher who tries to explain ! 
There is no explanation — there is just the humor. If 
that eludes the reader, an explanation will not avail. 

A teacher of Latin read to his pupils " The House- 
Boat on the Styx " in connection with their reading of 
the "iEneid." It was good fun for them all, and never 
was Virgil more highly honored than in the assiduous 
study which those young people gave to his lines. 
They were eager to complete the study of the lesson 
in order to have more time for the " House-Boat." 
The humor of the book opened wide the gates of 
their spirits through which the truths of the regular 
lesson passed blithely in. 



A SENSE OF HUMOR 243 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What is the source of humor in a humorous story? 

2. When should the teacher laugh with the school ? When 
should she not do so ? 

3. How does the response of the school to a laughable 
incident reflect the leadership of the teacher? 

4. What can be done to bring more or better humor into 
the school ? 

5. Compare as companions those whom you know who 
exhibit a sense of humor with those who do not. 

6. Compare their influence on others. 

7. What can be done to bring humor into essays written 
by the students ? 

8. Distinguish between wit and humor. Does wit or 
humor cause most of the laughter in school ? 

9. What is meant by an "aptitude for vicariousness " ? 

10. How did Lincoln make use of humor? Is there any 
humor in the Gettysburg speech? Why? 

11. What is the relation of pathos to humor? 

12. Give an example from the writings of Mark Twain 
that shows him a philosopher as well as a humorist. 

13. What books could you read to the pupils to enliven 
some of the subjects that you teach? 



CHAPTER XX 

THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 

Yearning toward betterment. — Much has been 
said and written in recent times touching the matter 
and manner of vitalizing and humanizing the studies 
and work of the school. The discussions have been 
nation-wide in their scope and most fertile in plans 
and practical suggestions. No subject of greater 
importance or of more far-reaching import now 
engages the interest of educational leaders. They 
are quite aware that something needs to be done, 
but no one has announced the sovereign remedy. 
The critics have made much of the fact that there 
is something lacking or wrong in our school pro- 
cedure, but they can neither diagnose the case nor 
suggest the remedy. They can merely criticize. 
We are having many surveys, but the results have 
been meager and inadequate. We have been work- 
ing at the circumference of the circle rather than 
at the center. We have been striving to reform 
our educational training, hoping for a reflex that 

244 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 245 

would be sufficient to modify the entire school 
regime. We have added domestic science, hoping 
thereby to reconstruct the school by inoculation. 
We have looked to agriculture and other vocational 
studies as the magnetic influences of our dreams. 
Something has been accomplished, to be sure, but 
we are still far distant from the goal. The best 
that writers can do in their books or educational 
conferences can do in their meetings, is to report 
progress. 

The obstacle of conservatism. — One of the great- 
est obstacles we have to surmount in this whole 
matter of vitalizing school work is the habitual 
conservatism of the school people themselves. The 
methods of teaching that obtained in the school 
when we were pupils have grooved themselves 
into habits of thinking that smile defiance at the 
theories that we have more recently acquired. 
When we venture out from the shore we want to 
feel a rope in our hands. The superintendent 
speaks fervently to patrons or teachers on the 
subject of modern methods in teaching, then retires 
to his office and takes intimate and friendly counsel 
with tradition. In sailing the educational seas he 
must needs keep in sight the buoys of tradition. 



246 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

This matter of conservatism is cited merely to show 
that our progress, in the very nature of the case, 
will be slow. 

Schools of education. — Another obstacle in the 
way of progress toward the vitalized school is the 
attitude and teaching of many who are connected 
with colleges of education and normal schools. We 
have a right to look to them for leadership, but we 
find, instead, that their practices lag far in the rear 
of their theories. They teach according to such 
devitalized methods and in such an unvitalized 
way as to discredit the subjects they teach. It is 
only from such of their students as are proof against 
their style of teaching that we may hope for aid. 
One such teacher in a college of education in a 
course of eight weeks on the subject of School Ad- 
ministration had his students copy figures from 
statistical reports for several days in succession and 
for four and five hours each day. The students 
confessed that their only objective was the gaining 
of credits, and had no intimation that the work 
they were doing was to function anywhere. 

The machine teacher. — Such work is deadening 
and disheartening. It has in it no inspiration, no 
life, nothing, in short, that connects with real life. 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 247 

Such a teacher could not maintain himself in a 
wide-awake high school for a half year. The boys 
and girls would desert him even if they had to de- 
sert the school. And yet teachers and prospective 
teachers must endure and not complain. Those who 
submit supinely will attempt to repeat in their 
schools the sort of teaching that obtains in his 
classes, and their schools will suffer accordingly. 
His sort of teaching proclaims him either more or 
less than a human being in the estimation of normal 
people. Such a teacher drones forth weary plati- 
tudes as if his utterances were oracular. The only 
prerequisite for a position in some schools of educa- 
tion seems to be a degree of a certain altitude with- 
out any reference to real teaching ability. 

Statistics versus children. — Such teaching pal- 
liates educational situations without affording a 
solution. It is so steeped in tradition that it re- 
sorts to statistics as it would consult an oracle. 
We look to see it establishing precedents only to 
find it following precedents. When we would find 
in it a leader we find merely a follower. To such 
teaching statistical numbers mean far more than 
living children. Indeed, children are but objects 
that become useful as a means of proving theories. 



248 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

It lacks vitality, and that is sad ; but, worst of all, 
it strives unceasingly to perpetuate itself in the 
schools. Real teaching power receives looks askance 
in some of these colleges as if it bore the mark of 
Cain in not being up to standard on the academic 
side. And yet these colleges are teaching the 
teachers of our schools. 

Teaching power. — Hence, the work of vitalizing 
the school must begin in our colleges of education 
and normal schools, and this beginning will be made 
only when we place the emphasis upon teaching 
power. The human qualities of the teachers must 
be so pronounced that they become, their most 
distinguished characteristics. It is a sad commen- 
tary upon our educational processes if a man must 
point to the letters of his degree to prove that he 
is a teacher. His teaching should be of such a 
nature as to justify and glorify his degree. As the 
preacher receives his degree because he can preach, 
so the teacher should receive his degree because he 
can teach, even if we must create a new degree by 
which to designate the real teacher. 

Degrees and human qualities. — There is no dis- 
paragement of the academic degree in the statement 
that it proves absolutely nothing touching the 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 249 

ability to teach. It proclaims its possessor a student 
but not a teacher. Yet, in our practices, we pro- 
ceed upon the assumption that teacher and student 
are synonymous. We hold examinations for teachers 
in our schools, but not for teachers in our colleges of 
education. His degree is the magic talisman that 
causes the doors to swing wide open for him. Be- 
sides, his very presence inside seems to be prima 
facie evidence that he is a success, and all his students 
are supposed to join in the general chorus of praise. 
Life the great human interest. — The books are 
eloquent and persistent in their admonitions that 
we should attach all school work to the native 
interests of the child. To this dictum there seems 
to be universal and hearty assent. But we do not 
seem to realize fully, as yet, that the big native 
interest of the child is life itself. We have not, 
as yet, found the way to enmesh the activities of 
the school in the life processes of the child so that 
these school activities are as much a part of his life 
as his food, his games, his breathing, and his sleep. 
We have been interpreting some of the manifesta- 
tions of life as his native interests but have failed 
thus to interpret his life as a whole. The child is 
but the aggregate of all his inherent interests, and 



250 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

we must know these interests if we would find the 
child so as to attach school work to the child him- 
self. 

The child as a whole. — Here is the crux of the 
entire matter, here the big problem for the vitalized 
school. We have been taking his pulse, testing his 
eyes, taking his temperature, and making examina- 
tions for defects — and these things are excellent. 
But all these things combined do not reveal the 
child to us. We need to go beyond all these in 
order to find him. We must know what he thinks, 
how he feels as to people and things, what his aspira- 
tions are, what motives impel him to action, what 
are his intuitions, what things he does involuntarily 
and what through volition or compulsion. With 
such data clearly before us we can proceed to at- 
tach school work to his native interests. We have 
been striving to bend him to our preconceived notion 
instead of finding out who and what he is as a condi- 
tion precedent to intelligent teaching. 

Three types of teachers. — The three types of 
teachers that have been much exploited in the 
books are the teacher who conceives it to be her 
work to teach the book, the one who teaches the 
subject, and the one who teaches the child. The 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 251 

number of the first type is still very large in spite 
of all the books that inveigh against this conception. 
It were easy to find a teacher whose practice in- 
dicates that she thinks that all the arithmetic there 
is or ought to be is to be found in the book that lies 
on her desk. It seems not to occur to her that a 
score of books might be written that would be 
equal in merit to the one she is using, some of 
which might be far better adapted to the children 
in her particular school. If she were asked to teach 
arithmetic without the aid of a book, she would 
shed copious tears, if, indeed, she did not resign. 

The first type. — To such a teacher the book is 
the Ultima Thule of all her endeavors, and when the 
pupils can pass the examination she feels that her 
work is a success. If the problem in the book does 
not fit the child, so much the worse for the child, 
and she proceeds to try to make him fit the problem. 
It does not occur to her to construct problems that 
will fit the child. When she comes to the solution 
of the right triangle, the baseball diamond does not 
come to her mind. She has the boy learn a rule 
and try to apply it instead of having him find the 
distance from first base to third in a direct line. 
In her thinking such a proceeding would be banal 



252 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

because it would violate the sanctity of the book. 
She must adhere to the book though the heavens 
fall, and the boy with them. 

The book supreme. — She seems quite unable to 
draw upon the farm, the grocery, the store, or the 
playground for suitable problems. These things 
seem to be obscured by her supreme devotion to 
the book. She lacks fertility of resources, nor does 
she realize this lack, because her eyes are fastened 
upon the book rather than upon the child. Were 
she as intent upon the child as she is upon the book, 
his interests would direct attention to the things 
toward which his inclinations yearn and toward 
which his aptitudes lure him. In such a case, her 
ingenuity and resourcefulness would roam over wide 
fields in quest of the objects of his native interests 
and she would return to him laden with material 
that would fit the needs of the child far better than 
the material of the book. 

The child supreme. — The teacher whose primary 
consideration is the child and who sees in the child 
the object and focus of all her activities, never makes 
a fetish of the book. It has its use, to be sure, but 
it is subordinate in the scheme of education. It is 
not a necessity, but a mere convenience. She could 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 253 

dispense with it entirely and not do violence to the 
child's interests. No book is large enough to com- 
pass all that she teaches, for she forages in every 
field to obtain proper and palatable food for the 
child. She teaches with the grain of the child and 
not against the grain. If the book contains what 
she requires in her work, she uses it and is glad to 
have it ; but, if it does not contain what she needs, 
she seeks it elsewhere and does not return empty- 
handed. 

Illustrations. — She places the truth she hopes to 
teach in the path of the child's inclination, and this 
is taken into his life processes. Life does not stop 
at way-stations to take on supplies, but absorbs the 
supplies that it encounters as it moves along. This 
teacher does not stop the ball game to teach the 
right triangle, but manages to have the problem 
solved in connection with or as a part of the game. 
She does not taboo the morning paper in order to 
have a lesson in history, but begins with the paper 
as a favorable starting point toward the lesson. 
She does not confiscate the contents of the boy's 
pocket as contraband, but is glad to avail herself 
of all these as indices of the boy's interests, and, 
therefore, guides for her teaching. 



254 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Attitude toward teaching materials. — When the 
boy carries a toad to school, she does not shudder, 
but rather rejoices, because she sees in him a pos- 
sible Agassiz. When he displays an interest in 
plant life, she sees in him another Burbank. When 
she finds him drawing pictures at his desk, she 
smiles approval, for she sees in him another Raphael. 
She does not disdain the lowliest insect, reptile, or 
plant when she finds it within the circle of the child's 
interests. She is willing, nay eager, to ransack the 
universe if only she may come upon elements of 
nutrition for her pupils. From every flower that 
blooms she gathers honey that she may distill it 
into the life of the child. She does not coddle the 
child ; she gives him nourishment. 

History. — Her history is as wide as human 
thought and as high as human aspiration. It in- 
cludes the Rosetta stone and the morning paper. 
It travels back from the clothing of the child to the 
cotton gin. The stitch in the little girl's dress is 
the index finger that points to the page that depicts 
the invention of the sewing machine. Every engine 
leads her back to Watt, and she takes the children 
with her. Every foreign message in the daily 
paper revives the story of Field and the laying of 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 255 

the Atlantic cable. Every mention of the Presi- 
dent's cabinet gives occasion for reviewing the 
cabinets of other Presidents with comparisons and 
contrasts. At her magic touch the libraries and 
galleries yield forth rich treasures for her classroom. 
Life is the textbook of her study, and the life of the 
child is the goal of her endeavors. 

The child's native interests. — In brief, she is 
teaching children and not books or subjects, and 
the interests of the children take emphatic prece- 
dence over her own. She enters into the life of the 
child and makes excursions into all life according 
to the dictates of his interests. The child is the 
big native interest to which she attaches the work 
of the school. The program is elastic enough to 
encompass every child in her school. Her program 
is a garden in which something is growing for each 
child, and she cultivates every plant with sym- 
pathetic care. She considers it no hardship to 
learn the plant, the animal, the place, or the fact 
in which the child finds interest. Because of the 
child and for the sake of the child she invests all 
these things with the quality of human interest. 

The school and the home. — Arithmetic, lan- 
guage, history, and geography touch life at a thou- 



256 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

sand points, and we have but to select the points of 
contact with the life of each pupil to render any or 
all of these a vital part of the day's work and the 
day's life. They are not things that are detached 
from the child's life. The child's errand to the shop 
involves arithmetic, and the vitalized teacher makes 
this fact a part of the working capital of the school. 
The dinner table abounds in geography, and the 
teacher is quick to turn this fact to account in the 
school. Her fertility of resources, coupled with 
her vital interest in human beings and human af- 
fairs, soon establishes a reciprocal relation between 
the home and the school. Similarly, she causes the 
language of the school to flow out into the home, 
the factory, and the office. 

The skill of the teacher. — History is not a school 
affair merely. It is a life affair, and through all the 
currents of life it may be made to flow. The lan- 
guages, Latin, German, French, Spanish, are expres- 
sions and interpretations of life, and they may be 
made to appear what they really are if the teacher 
is resourceful enough and skillful enough to attach 
them to the life of the pupil by the human ligaments 
that are ever at hand. Chemistry, physics, botany, 
and physiology all throb with life if only the teacher 



THE ELEMENT OF HUMAN INTEREST 257 

can place the fingers of the pupils on their pulses. 
Given the human teacher, the human child, and 
the humanized teaching, the vitalized school is 
inevitable. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What agencies have been employed with the expecta- 
tion that they would improve the school ? 

2. What are the reasons why some of these have not ac- 
complished more? 

3. Give instances in which the conservatism of teachers 
seems to have stood in the way of utilizing the element of human 
interest. 

4. What do you think of a teacher who asserts that no 
important advance has been made in educational theory and 
practice since, say, 1910 ? 

5. Make an outline of what you think a college of educa- 
tion should do for the school. 

6. What would you expect to gain from a course in school 
administration ? 

7. The president of at least one Ohio college personally 
inspects and checks up the work of the professors from the 
standpoint of proper teaching standards, and has them visit one 
another's classes for friendly criticism and observation. He 
reports improvement in the standard of teaching. How is 
his plan applicable in your school ? 

8. A city high school principal states that it is not his cus- 
tom to visit his teachers' classes ; that he knows what is going 
on and that he interferes only if something is wrong. What 
do you think of his practice ? How is the principle applicable 
in your school ? 



258 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

9. Do the duties of a superintendent have to do only with 
curriculum and discipline, or have they to do also with teaching 
power ? 

10. What are some of the ways in which you have known 
superintendents successfully to increase the teaching power of 
the teachers ? 

11. What things do we need to know about a child in order 
to utilize his interests? 

12. Distinguish three types of teachers. 

13. What are the objections to teaching the book? 

14. What are the objections to teaching the subject? 

15. What are some items of school work upon which some 
teachers spend time that they should devote to finding materials 
suited to the child's interests ? 

16. Can one teacher utilize all of the interests of a child 
within a nine-month term? What is the measure of how far 
she should be expected to do so ? 



CHAPTER XXI 

BEHAVIOR 

Behavior in retrospect. — The caption of this 
chapter implies the behavior of human beings, as 
a matter of course, and the study of this subject is, 
at once, both alluring and illusive. No sooner has 
the student arrived at deductions that seem con- 
clusive than exceptions begin to loom up on his 
speculative horizon that disintegrate his theories 
and cause him to retrace the steps of his reasoning. 
Such a study affords large scope for introspection, 
but too few people incline to examine their own be- 
havior in any mental attitude that approaches the 
scientific. The others seem to think that things 
just happen, and that their own behavior is fortui- 
tous. They seem not to be able to reason from ef- 
fect back to cause, or to realize that there may be 
any possible connection between what they are 
doing at the present moment and what they were 
doing twenty years ago. 

Environment. — In what measure is a man the 
product of his environment? To what extent is 

259 



260 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

a man able to influence his environment? These 
questions start us on a line of inquiry that leads 
toward the realm of, at least, a hypothetical solu- 
tion of the problem of behavior. After we have 
reached the conclusion, by means of concrete ex- 
amples, that many men have influenced their en- 
vironment, it becomes pertinent, at once, to inquire 
still further whence these men derived the power 
thus to modify their environment. We may not 
be able to reach final or satisfactory answers to these 
questions, but it will, none the less, prove a profit- 
able exercise. We need not trench upon the theo- 
logical doctrine of predestination, but we may, with 
impunity, speculate upon the possibility of a doc- 
trine of educational predestination. 

Queries. — Was Mr. George Goethals predes- 
tined to become the engineer of the Panama Canal 
from the foundation of the world, or might he have 
become a farmer, a physician, or a poet? Could 
Julius Caesar have turned back from the Rubicon 
and refrained from saying, " The die is cast " ? 
Could Abraham Lincoln have withheld his pen 
from the Emancipation Proclamation and permitted 
the negro race to continue in slavery? Could any 
influence have deterred Walter Scott from writing 



BEHAVIOR 261 

" Kenilworth " ? Was Robert Fulton's invention 
of the steamboat inevitable? Could Christopher 
Columbus possibly have done otherwise than dis- 
cover America? Does education have anything 
whatever to do in determining what a man will or 
will not do ? 

Antecedent causes. — Here sits a man, let us say, 
who is writing a musical selection. He works in a 
veritable frenzy, and all else seems negligible for the 
time. He well-nigh disdains food and sleep in the 
intensity of his interest. Is this particular episode 
in his life merely happening, or does some causative 
influence lie back of this event somewhere in the 
years? Did some influence of home, or school, or 
playground give him an impulse and an impetus 
toward this event? Or, in other words, are the 
activities of his earlier life functioning on the bit 
of paper before him ? If this is an effect, what and 
where was the cause? In the case of any type of 
human behavior can we postulate antecedent causes ? 
If a hundred musicians were writing musical com- 
positions at the same moment, would they offer 
similar explanations of their behavior ? 

Leadership. — As a working hypothesis, it may 
be averred that ability to influence environment 



262 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

betokens leadership. With such a measuring-rod 
in hand we may go out into the community and 
determine, with some degree of accuracy, who are 
leaders and who are mere followers. Then we 
should need to go further and discover degrees of 
leadership, whether small or large, and, also, the 
quality of the leadership, whether good or bad, wise 
or foolish, selfish or altruistic, noisy or serene, and all 
the many other variations. Having done all this, we 
are still only on the threshold of our study, for we 
must reason back from our accumulated facts to their 
antecedent causes. If we score one man's leader- 
ship fifty and another's eighty, have we any possible 
warrant for concluding that the influences in their 
early life that tend to generate leadership were 
approximately as five to eight ? 

Restricted concepts. — This question is certain 
to encounter incredulity, just as it is certain to 
raise other questions. Both results will be gratify- 
ing as showing an awakening of interest, which is 
the most and the best that the present discussion 
can possibly hope to accomplish. Very many, 
perhaps most, teachers in the traditional school 
do their teaching with reference to the next exam- 
ination. They remind their pupils daily of the 



BEHAVIOR 263 

on-coming examination and remind them of the 
dire consequences following their failure to attain 
the passing grade of seventy. They ask what 
answer the pupil would give to a certain question 
if it should appear in the examination. If they can 
somehow get their pupils to surmount that barrier 
of seventy at promotion time, they seem quite will- 
ing to turn their backs upon them and let the teacher 
in the next grade make what she can of such un- 
profitable baggage. 

Each lesson a prophecy. — And we still call this 
education. It isn't education at all, but the merest 
hack work, and the tragedy of it is that the child is 
the one to suffer. The teacher goes on her com- 
placent way happy in the consciousness that her 
pupils were promoted and, therefore, she will retain 
her place on the pay roll. It were more logical to 
have the same teacher continue with the pupil during 
his entire school life of twelve years, for, in that 
case, her interest in him would be continuous rather 
than temporary and spasmodic. But the present 
plan of changing teachers would be even better 
than that if only every teacher's work could be 
made to project itself not only to graduation day, 
but to the days of mature manhood and woman- 



264 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

hood. If only every teacher were able to make 
each lesson a vital prophecy of what the pupil is to 
be and to do twenty years hence, then that lesson 
would become a condition precedent to the pupil's 
future behavior. 

Outlook. — Groping about in the twilight of 
possibilities we speculate in a mild and superficial 
way as to the extent to which heredity, environ- 
ment, and education either singly or in combination 
are determining factors in human behavior. But 
when no definite answer is forthcoming we lose 
interest in the subject and have recourse to the 
traditional methods of our grandfathers. We lose 
sight of the fact that in our quest for the solution 
of this problem we are coming nearer and nearer 
to the answer to the perennial question, What is 
education? Hence, neither the time nor the effort 
is wasted that we devote to this study. We may 
not understand heredity ; we may find ourselves 
bewildered by environment ; we may not apprehend 
what education is ; but by keeping all these closely 
associated with behavior in our thinking we shall be 
the gainers. 

Long division ramified. — We are admonished 
so to organize the activities of the school that they 



BEHAVIOR 265 

may function in behavior. That is an admonition 
of stupendous import as we discover when we at- 
tempt to compass the content of behavior. One of 
the activities of the school is Long Division. This 
is relatively simple, but the possible behavior in 
which it may function is far less simple. In the 
past, this same Long Division has functioned in 
the Brooklyn Bridge, in the Hoosac Tunnel, and 
Washington Monument, in the Simplon Pass, and 
in Eiffel Tower. It has helped us to travel up the 
mountain side on funicular railways, underneath 
rivers and cities by means of subways, under the 
ocean in submarines, and in the air by means of air- 
craft, and over the tops of cities on elevated rail- 
ways. Only the prophet would have the temerity 
to predict what further achievements the future 
holds in store. But all that has been done and all 
that will yet be done are only a part of the behavior 
in which this activity functions. 

Behavior amplified. — Human behavior runs the 
entire gamut, from the bestial to the sublime, with 
all the gradations between. It has to do with the 
mean thief who pilfers the petty treasures of the 
little child, and with the high-minded philanthropist 
who walks and works in obedience to the behests 



266 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of altruism. It includes the frowzy slattern who 
offends the sight and also the high-born lady of 
quality whose presence exhales and, therefore, in- 
spires to, refinement and grace. It has to do with 
the coarse boor who defiles with his person and his 
speech and the courtly, cultured gentleman who be- 
comes the exemplar of those who come under his 
influence. It touches the depraved gamin of the 
alley and the celebrated scholar whose pen and voice 
shed light and comfort. It concerns itself with the 
dark lurking places of the prowlers of the night who 
prey upon innocence, virtue, and prosperity and with 
the cultured home whose members make and glorify 
civilization. 

Its scope. — It swings through the mighty arc, 
from the anarchist plotting devastation and death 
up to Socrates inciting his friends to good courage 
as he drinks the hemlock. It takes cognizance of 
the slave in his cabin no less than of Lincoln in his 
act of setting the slaves free. It touches the ex- 
tremes in Mrs. Grundy and Clara Barton. It con- 
cerns itself with Medea scattering the limbs of her 
murdered brother along the way to delay her pur- 
suers and with Antigone performing the rites of 
burial over the body of her brother that his soul 



BEHAVIOR 267 

might live forever. It has to do with Circe, who 
transformed men into pigs, and with Frances Willard, 
who sought to restore lost manhood. It includes all 
that pertains to Lucrezia Borgia and Mary Magda- 
lene ; Nero and Phillips Brooks ; John Wilkes Booth 
and Nathan Hale ; Becky Sharp and Evangeline ; 
Goneril and Cordelia ; and Benedict Arnold and 
George Washington. 

Behavior in history. — Before the teacher can win 
a starting-point in her efforts to organize the activi- 
ties of her school in such a manner that they may 
function in behavior, she must have a pretty clear 
notion as to what behavior really is. To gain this 
comprehensive notion she must review in her think- 
ing the events that make up history. In the presence 
of each one of these events she must realize that this 
is the behavior in which antecedent activities func- 
tioned. Then she will be free to speculate upon the 
character of those activities, what modifications, ac- 
cretions, or abrasions they experienced in passing 
from the place of their origin to the event before her, 
and whether like activities in another place or an- 
other age would function in a similar event. She 
need not be discouraged if she finds no adequate 
answer, for she will be the better teacher because 
of the speculation, even lacking a definite answer. 



268 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Machinery. — She must challenge every piece 
of machinery that meets her gaze with the question 
" Whence earnest thou ? " She knows, in a vague 
way, that it is the product of mind, but she needs to 
know more. She needs to know that the machine 
upon which she is looking did not merely happen, 
but that it has a history as fascinating as any ro- 
mance if only she cause it to give forth a revelation 
of itself. She may find in tracing the evolution of 
the plow that the original was the forefinger of some 
cave man, in the remote past. For a certainty, 
she will find, lurking in some machine, in some form, 
the multiplication table, and this fact will form an 
interesting nexus between behavior in the form of 
the machine and the activities of the school. She 
will be delighted to learn that no machine was ever 
constructed without the aid of the multiplication 
table, and when she is teaching this table thereafter 
she does the work with keener zest, knowing that it 
may function in another machine. 

Art. — When she looks at the " Captive Androm- 
ache" by Leighton she is involved in a network of 
speculations. She wonders by what devious ways 
the mind of the artist had traveled in reaching this 
type and example of behavior. She wonders whether 



BEHAVIOR 269 

the artistic impulse was born in him or whether it 
was acquired. She sees that he knew his Homer and 
she would be glad to know just how his reading of 
the "Iliad" had come to function in this particular 
picture. She further wonders what lessons in draw- 
ing and painting the artist had had in the schools 
that finally culminated in this masterpiece, and 
whether any of his classmates ever achieved dis- 
tinction as artists. She wonders, too, whether there 
is an embryo artist in her class and what she ought 
to do in the face of that possibility. Again she 
wonders how geography, grammar, and spelling 
can be made to function in such a painting as Rosa 
Bonheur's "The Plough Oxen," and her wonder 
serves to invest these subjects with new meaning 
and power. 

Shakespeare. — In the school at Stratford they 
pointed out to her the desk at which Shakespeare 
sat as a lad, with all its boyish hieroglyphics, and her 
thought instinctively leaped across the years to "The 
Tempest," "King Lear," and "Hamlet." She pon- 
dered deeply the relation between the activities of the 
lad and the behavior of the man, wondering how much 
the school had to do with the plays that stand alone 
in literature, and whether he imbibed the power 



270 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

from associations, from books, from people, or from 
his ancestors. She wondered what magic ingredi- 
ent had been dropped into the activities of his life 
that had proven the determining factor in the plays 
that set him apart among men. She realizes that 
his behavior was distinctive, and she fain would dis- 
cover the talisman whose potent influence determined 
the bent and power of his mind. And she wonders, 
again, whether any pupil in her school may ever 
exemplify such behavior. 

History. — When she reads her history she has 
a keener, deeper, and wider interest than ever before, 
for she now realizes that every event of history is 
an effect, whose inciting causes lie back in the years, 
and is not fortuitous as she once imagined. She 
realizes that the historical event may have been 
the convergence of many lines of thinking emanat- 
ing from widely divergent sources, and this con- 
ception serves to make her interest more acute. 
In thus reasoning from effect back to cause she gains 
the ability to reason from cause to effect and, there- 
fore, her teaching of history becomes far more vital. 
She is studying the philosophy of history and not a 
mere catalogue of isolated and unrelated facts. 
History is a great web, and in the events she sees 



BEHAVIOR 271 

the pattern that minds have worked. She is more 
concerned now with the reactions of her pupils to 
this pattern than she is with mere names and dates, 
for these reactions give her a clew to tendencies on 
the part of her pupils that may lead to results of 
vast import. 

Poetry. — In every poem she reads she finds an 
illustration of mental and spiritual behavior, and 
she fain would find the key that will discover the 
mental operations that conditioned the form of the 
poem. She would hark back to the primal impulse 
of each bit of imagery, and she analyzes and appraises 
each word and line with the zeal and skill of a con- 
noisseur. She would estimate justly and accurately 
the activities that functioned in this sort of behavior. 
She seeks for the influences of landscapes, of sky, of 
birds, of sunsets, of clouds, — in short, of all nature, 
as well as of the manifestations of the human soul. 
Thus the teacher gains access into the very heart of 
nature and life and can thus cause the poem to be- 
come a living thing to her pupils. In all literature she 
is ever seeking for the inciting causes ; for only so 
can she prove an inspiring guide and counselor in 
pointing to them the way toward worthy achieve- 
ments. 



272 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Attitude of teacher. — In conclusion, then, we may 
readily distinguish the vitalized teacher from the 
traditional teacher by her attitude toward the facts 
set down in the books. The traditional teacher looks 
upon them as mere facts to be noted, connoted, 
memorized, reproduced, and graded, whereas the 
vitalized teacher regards them as types of behavior, 
as ultimate effects of mental and spiritual activities. 
The traditional teacher knows that seven times 
nine are sixty-three, and that is quite enough for her 
purpose. If the pupil recites the fact correctly, she 
gives him a perfect grade and recommends him for 
promotion. For the vitalized teacher the bare fact 
is not enough. She does not disdain or neglect the 
mechanics of her work, but she sees beyond the 
present. She sees this same fact merging into the 
operations of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, cal- 
culus, physics, and engineering, until it finally 
functions in some enterprise that redounds to the 
well-being of humanity. 

Conclusion. — To her every event of history, 
every fact of mathematics and science, every line 
of poetry, every passage of literature is pregnant 
with meaning, dynamic, vibrant, dramatic, and 
prophetic. Nothing can be dull or prosaic to her 



BEHAVIOR 273 

electric touch. All the facts of the books, all the 
emotions of life, and all the beauties of nature she 
weaves into the fabric of her dreams for her pupils. 
The goal of her aspirations is far ahead, and around 
this goal she sees clustered those who were her 
pupils. In every recitation this goal looms large 
in her vision. She can envisage the viewpoint of 
her pupils, and thus strives to have them envisage 
hers. She yearns to have them join with her in 
looking down through the years when the activities 
of the school will be functioning in worthy behavior. 



Questions and Exercises 

1. Discuss the relative importance of environment as a 
factor in the behavior of plants ; animals ; children ; men. 

2. How may an understanding of the mutual reaction of 
the child and his environment assist the teacher in planning for 
character building in pupils ? 

3. Make specific suggestions by which children may influ- 
ence their environment. 

4. Discuss the vitalized teacher's contribution to the en- 
vironment of the child. 

5. After reading this chapter give your definition of "be- 
havior." 

6. Discuss the author's idea of leadership. 

7. Define education in terms of behavior, environment, 
and heredity. 



274 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

8. Account for the difference in behavior of some of the 
characters mentioned in the chapter. 

9. How may the vitalized teacher be distinguished from 
the traditional teacher in her attitude toward facts ? 

10. Discuss the doctrine of educational predestination. 



CHAPTER XXII 

BOND AND FREE 

Spiritual freedom. — There is no slavery more 
abject than the bondage of ignorance. John Bun- 
yan was not greatly inconvenienced by being in- 
carcerated in jail. His spirit could not be imprisoned, 
but the imprisonment of his body gave his mind and 
spirit freedom and opportunity to do work that, 
otherwise, might not have been done. If he had 
lived a mere physical life and had had no resources 
of the mind upon which to draw, his experience in 
the jail would have been most irksome. But, being 
equipped with mental and spiritual resources, he 
could smile disdain at prison bars, and proceed with 
his work in spiritual freedom. Had he been depend- 
ent solely, or even mainly, upon food, sleep, drink, 
and other contributions to his physical being for his 
definition of life, then his whole life would have been 
restricted to the limits of his cell ; but the more ex- 
tensive and expansive resources of his life rendered 
the jail virtually nonexistent. 

275 



276 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Illustrations. — It is possible, therefore, so to 
furnish the mind that it can enjoy freedom in spite 
of any bondage to which the body may be subjected. 
Indeed, the whole process of education has as its 
large objective the freedom of the mind and spirit. 
Knowledge of truth gives freedom ; ignorance of 
truth is bondage. A man's knowledge may be 
measured by the extent of his freedom ; his igno- 
rance, by the extent of his bondage. In the presence 
of truth the man who knows stands free and un- 
abashed, while the man who does not know stands 
baffled and embarrassed. In a chemical laboratory 
the man who knows chemistry moves about with 
ease and freedom, while the man who does not know 
chemistry stands fixed in one spot, fearing to move 
lest he may cause an explosion. To the man who 
knows astronomy the sky at night presents a marvel- 
ous panorama full of interest and inspiration, to the 
man who is ignorant of astronomy the same sky is 
merely a dome studded with dots of light. 

Rome. — The man who lacks knowledge of his- 
tory is utterly bewildered and ill at ease in the 
Capitoline Museum at Rome. All about him are 
busts that represent the men who made Roman 
history, but they have no meaning for him. Nero 



BOND AND FREE 277 

and Julius Caesar are mere names to him and, as 
such, bear no relation to life. Cicero and Caligula 
might exchange places and it would be all one to 
him. He takes a fleeting glance at the statue of 
the Dying Gaul, but it conveys no meaning to him. 
He has neither read nor heard of Byron's poem which 
this statue inspired. He sees near by the celebrated 
Marble Faun, but he has not read Hawthorne's ro- 
mance and therefore the statue evokes no interest. 
In short, he is bored and uncomfortable, and im- 
portunes his companions to go elsewhere. 

When he looks out upon the Forum he says it looks 
the same to him as any other stone quarry, and he 
roundly berates the shiftlessness of the Romans in 
permitting the Coliseum to remain when the stone 
could be used for building purposes, for bridges, and 
for paving. The Tiber impresses him not at all for, 
as he says, he has seen much larger rivers and, cer- 
tainly, many whose water is more clear. In the 
Sistine Chapel he cannot be persuaded to give more 
than a passing glance at the ceiling because it makes 
his neck ache to look up. The Laocoon and Apollo 
Belvedere he will not see, giving as a reason that he 
is more than tired of looking at silly statuary. He 
feels it an imposition that he should be dragged 



278 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

around to such places when he cares nothing for them. 
His evident boredom is pathetic, and he repeatedly 
says that he'd far rather be visiting in the corner 
grocery back home, than to be spending his time in 
the Vatican. 

Contrasts. — In this, he speaks but the simple 
truth. In the grocery he has comfort while, in the 
Vatican, he is in bondage. His ignorance of art, 
architecture, history, and literature reduces him to 
thralldom in any place that exemplifies these. In 
the grocery he has comfort because he can have a 
share in the small talk and gossip that obtain there. 
His companions speak his language and he feels 
himself to be one of them. Were they, by any 
chance, to begin a discussion of history he would feel 
himself ostracized and would leave them to their 
own devices. If they would retain him as a compan- 
ion they must keep within his range of interests 
and thinking. To go outside his small circle is to 
offer an affront. He cannot speak the language 
of history, or science, or art, and so experiences a 
feeling of discomfort in any presence where this 
language is spoken. 

History. — In this concrete illustration we find 
ample justification for the teaching of history in the 



BOND AND FREE 279 

schools. History is one of the large strands in the 
web of life, and to neglect this study is to deny to 
the pupil one of the elements of freedom. It is not 
easy to conceive a situation that lacks the element 
of history in one or another of its phases or mani- 
festations. Whether the pupil travels, or embarks 
upon a professional life, or associates, in any rela- 
tion, with cultivated people, he will find a knowledge 
of history not only a convenience but a real necessity, 
if he is to escape the feeling of thralldom. The 
utilitarian value of school studies has been much 
exploited, and that phase is not to be neglected ; but 
we need to go further in estimating the influence of 
any study. We need to inquire not only how a 
knowledge of the study will aid the pupil in his work, 
but also how it will contribute to his life. 

Restricted concepts. — We lustily proclaim our 
country to be the land of the free, but our notion of 
freedom is much restricted. In the popular con- 
ception freedom has reference to the body. A man 
can walk the streets without molestation and can 
vote his sentiments at the polls, but he may not be 
able to take a day's ride about Concord and Lexing- 
ton with any appreciable sense of freedom. He 
may walk about the Congressional Library and feel 



280 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

himself in prison. He may desert a lecture for the 
saloon in the interests of his own comfort. He may 
find the livery stable more congenial than the draw- 
ing-room. His body may experience a sort of free- 
dom while his mind and spirit are held fast in the 
shackles of ignorance. A Burroughs, an Edison, 
a Thoreau, might have his feet in the stocks and still 
have more freedom than such a man as this. He 
walks about amid historic scenes with his spiritual 
eyes blindfolded, and that condition of mind pre- 
cludes freedom. 

Real freedom. — We shall not attain our high 
privileges as a free people until freedom comes to 
mean more than the absence of physical restraint. 
Our conception of freedom must reach out into the 
world of mind and spirit, and our educational pro- 
cesses must esteem it their chief function to set 
mental and spiritual prisoners free. We have only 
to read history, science, and literature to realize 
what sublime heights mind can attain in its explora- 
tions of the realms of truth, and, since the boys and 
girls of our schools are to pass this way but once, 
every effort possible should be made to accord to 
them full freedom to emulate the mental achieve- 
ments of those who have gone before. They have a 



BOND AND FREE 281 

right to become the equals of their predecessors, and 
only freedom of mind and spirit can make them such. 
Every man should be larger than his task, and only 
freedom of mind and spirit can make him so. The 
man who works in the ditch can revel among the 
sublime manifestations of truth if only his mind is 
rightly furnished. 

Spelling. — The man who is deficient in spelling 
inevitably confines his vocabulary to narrow limits 
and so lacks facility of expression and nicety of 
diction. Accordingly, he suffers by comparison 
with others whose vocabulary is more extensive 
and whose diction is, therefore, more elegant. The 
consciousness of his shortcomings restricts the ex- 
uberance of his life, and he fails of that sense of large 
freedom that a knowledge of spelling would cer- 
tainly give. So that even in such an elementary 
study as spelling the school has an opportunity to 
generate in the pupils a feeling of freedom, and this 
feeling is quite as important in the scheme of life 
as the ability to spell correctly. In this statement, 
there is no straining for effects. On the contrary, 
many illustrations might be adduced to prove that 
it is but a plain statement of fact. A cultured lady 
confesses that she is thrown into a panic whenever 



282 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

she has occasion to use the word Tuesday because 
she is never certain of the spelling. 

The switchboard. — Life may be likened to an 
extensive electric switchboard, and only that man 
or woman has complete freedom who can press the 
right button without hesitation or trepidation. 
The ignorant man stands paralyzed in the presence 
of this mystery and knows not how to proceed to 
evoke the correct response to his desires. It has 
been said that everything is infinitely high that we 
cannot see over. Hence, to the man who does 
not know, cube root is infinitely high and, as such, 
is as far away from his comprehension as the fourth 
dimension or the precession of the equinoxes. In 
the presence of even such a simple truth as cube 
root he stands helpless and enthralled. He lives in 
a small circle and cannot know the joy of the man 
whose mind forgathers with the big truths of life. 

Comparisons. — The ignorant man cannot ac- 
company this man upon his mighty excursions, but 
must remain behind to make what he can of his 
feeble resources. The one can penetrate the mys- 
teries of the planets and bring back their secrets; 
the other must confine his thinking to the weather 
and the crops. The one can find entertainment in 



BOND AND FREE 283 

the Bible and Shakespeare; the other seeks com- 
panionship among the cowboys and Indians of the 
picture-films. The one sits in rapt delight through 
an evening of grand opera, reveling on the sunlit 
summits of harmony; the other can rise no higher 
in the scale of music than the raucous hand organ. 
The one finds keen delight among the masterpieces 
of art ; the other finds his definition of art in the 
colored supplement. The one experiences the acme 
of pleasure in communing with historians, musicians, 
artists, scientists, and philologists ; the other finds 
such associations the very acme of boredom. The 
one finds freedom among the big things of life; the 
other finds galling bondage. 

Three elements of freedom. — There are three 
elements of freedom that are worthy of emphasis. 
These are self-reliance, self-support, and self-respect. 
These elements are the trinity that constitute one 
of the major ultimate aims of the vitalized school. 
The school that inculcates these qualities must 
prove a vital force in the life of the pupil; and the 
pupil who wins these qualities is well equipped for 
the work of real living. These qualities are the 
golden gateways to freedom, nor can there be a 
full measure of freedom if either of these qualities 



284 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

be lacking. Moreover, these qualities are cumula- 
tive in their relations to one another. Self-reliance 
leads to and engenders self-support, and both 
these underlie and condition self-respect. Or, to 
put the case conversely, there cannot be self-respect 
in the absence of self-reliance and self-support. 

Self-reliance. — It would not be easy to over- 
magnify the influence of the school that is rightly 
conducted in the way of inculcating the quality of 
self-reliance and in causing it to grow into a habit. 
Every problem that the boy solves by his own efforts, 
every obstacle that he surmounts, every failure 
that he transforms into a success, and every advance 
he makes towards mastery gives him a greater 
degree of self-reliance, greater confidence in his 
powers, and greater courage to persevere. It is 
the high privilege of the teacher to cause a boy to 
believe in himself, to have confidence in his ability 
to win through. To this end, she adds gradually 
to the difficulties of his work, always keeping inside 
the limits of discouragement, and never fails to give 
recognition to successful achievements. In this 
way the boy gains self-reliance and so plumes him- 
self for still loftier flights. Day after day he moves 
upward and onward, until at length he exemplifies 



BOND AND FREE 285 

the sentiment of Virgil, " They can because they 
think they can." 

This quality in practice. — The self-reliance that 
becomes ingrained in a boy's habits of life will not 
evaporate in the heat of the activities and competi- 
tion of the after-school life. On the contrary, it 
will be reenforced and crystallized by the oppor- 
tunities of business or professional life, and, in calm 
reliance upon his own powers, he will welcome 
competition as an opportunity to put himself to 
the test. He is no weakling, for in school he made 
his independent way in spite of the lions in his path, 
and so gained fiber and courage for the contests of 
daily life. And because he has industry, thrift, 
perseverance, and self-reliance the gates of success 
swing wide open and he enters into the heritage 
which he himself has won. 

The sterling man. — His career offers an emphatic 
negation to the notion that obtains here and there 
to the effect that education makes a boy weak and 
ineffective, robbing him of the quality of sterling 
elemental manhood, and fitting him only for the 
dance-hall and inane social functions. The man who 
is rightly trained has resources that enable him to 
add dignity and character to social functions in that 



286 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

he exhales power and bigness. People recognize in 
him a real man, capable, alert, and potential, and 
gladly pay him the silent tribute that manhood never 
fails to win. He can hold his own among the best, 
and only the best appeal to him. 

Self-respect. — And, just as he wins the respect 
of others, so he wins the respect of himself, and so 
the triumvirate of virtues is complete. Having 
achieved self-respect he disdains the cheap, the 
bizarre, the gaudy, and the superficial. He knows 
that there are real values in life that are worthy of 
his powers and best efforts, and these real values 
are the goal of his endeavors. Moreover, he has 
achieved freedom, and so is not fettered by prece- 
dent, convention, or fads. He is free to establish 
precedents, to violate the conventions when a great 
principle is at stake, and to ignore fads. He can 
stand unabashed in the presence of the learned of 
the earth, and can understand the heartbeats of 
life, because he has had experience both of learning 
and of life. And being a free man his life is fuller 
and richer, and he knows when and how to bestow 
the help that will give to others a sense of freedom 
and make life for them a greater boon. 



BOND AND FREE 287 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Account for the production of some of our greatest 
religious literature in prison or in exile. Give other instances 
than the one mentioned by the author. 

2. Give your idea of the author's concept of the terms 
"bondage" and "freedom." 

3. Add to the instances noted in this chapter where igno- 
rance has produced bondage. 

4. Defend the assertion that the cost of ignorance in our 
country exceeds the cost of education. The total amount spent 
for public education in 1915 slightly exceeded $500,000,000. 

5. How do the typical recitations of your school contrib- 
ute to the happiness of your pupils? Be specific. 

6. How may lack of thoroughness limit freedom? Illus- 
trate. 

7. How may education give rise to self-reliance? Self- 
respect ? 

8. Show that national and religious freedom depend upon 
education. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

EXAMINATIONS 

Prelude. — When the vitalized school has finally 
been achieved there will result a radical departure 
from the present procedure in the matter of exami- 
nations. A teacher in the act of preparing a list of 
examination questions of the traditional type is 
not an edifying spectacle. He has a text-book 
open before him from which he extracts nuts for 
his pupils to crack. It is a purely mechanical pro- 
cess and only a mechanician could possibly debase 
intelligence and manhood to such unworthy uses. 
Were it not so pathetic it would excite laughter. 
But this teacher is the victim of tradition. He 
knows no other way. He made out examination 
questions in accordance with this plan fifteen years 
ago and the heavens didn't fall; then why, pray, 
change the method ? Besides, men and women who 
were thus examined when they were children in 
school have achieved distinction in the world's 
affairs, and that, of itself, proves the validity of the 
method, according to his way of thinking. 

288 



EXAMINATIONS 289 

Mental atrophy. — It seems never to occur to 
him that children have large powers of resistance 
and that some of his pupils may have won distinc- 
tion in spite of his teaching and his methods of ex- 
amination and not because of them. His trouble is 
mental and spiritual atrophy. He thinks and feels 
by rule of thumb, " without variableness or shadow 
of turning." In the matter of new methods he is 
quite immune. He settled things to his complete 
satisfaction years ago, and what was good enough 
for his father, in school methods, is quite good 
enough for him. His self-satisfaction would ap- 
proach sublimity, were it not so extremely ludi- 
crous. He has a supercilious sneer for innovations. 
How he can bring himself to make concessions to 
modernity to the extent of riding in an automobile 
is one of the mysteries. 

Self-complacency. — His complacency would ex- 
cite profound admiration did it not betoken dead- 
line inaction. He became becalmed on the sea of 
life years ago, but does not know it. When the 
procession of life moves past him he thinks he is the 
one who is in motion, and takes great unction to 
himself for his progressiveness — " and not a wave 
of trouble rolls across his peaceful breast." So 



290 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

he proceeds to copy another question from the 
text-book, solemnly writing it on a bit of paper, 
and later copying on the blackboard with such a 
show of bravery and gusto as would indicate that 
some great truth had been revealed to him alone. 
In an orotund voice he declaims to his pupils the 
mighty revelations that he copied from the book. 
His examination regime is the old offer of a mess of 
pottage for a birthright. 

Remembering and knowing. — In our school 
practices we have become so inured to the question- 
and-answer method of the recitation that we have 
made the examination its counterpart. As teachers 
we are constantly admonishing our pupils to remem- 
ber, as if that were the basic principle in the educa- 
tional process. In reality we do not want them to 
remember — we want them to know ; and the dis- 
tinction is all-important. The child does not re- 
member which is his right hand; he knows. He 
does not remember the face of his mother ; he knows 
her. He does not remember which is the sun and 
which is the moon; he knows. He does not re- 
member snow, and rain, and ice, and mud; he 
knows. 

Questions and answers. — But, none the less, 



EXAMINATIONS 291 

we proceed upon the agreeable assumption that edu- 
cation is the process of memorizing, and so reduce 
our pupils to the plane of parrots ; for a parrot has 
a prodigious memory. Hence, it comes to pass 
that, in the so-called preparation of their lessons, 
the pupils con the words of the book, again and 
again, and when they can repeat the words of the 
book we smile approval and give a perfect grade. 
It matters not at all that they display no intelli- 
gent understanding of the subject so long as they 
can repeat the statements of the book. It never 
seems to occur to the teacher that the pupil of the 
third grade might give the words of the binomial 
theorem without the slightest apprehension of its 
meaning. We grade for the repetition of words, 
not for intelligence. 

Court procedure. — In our school practices we 
seem to take our cue from court procedure and 
make each pupil who recites feel that he is on the 
witness stand experiencing all its attendant dis- 
comforts, instead of being a cooperating agent in 
an agreeable enterprise. We suspend the sword of 
Damocles above his head and demand from him 
such answers as will fill the measure of our precon- 
ceived notions. He may know more of the subject, 



292 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

in reality, than the teacher, but this will not avail. 
In fact, this may militate against him. She de- 
mands to know what the book says, with small con- 
cern for his own knowledge of the subject. We 
proclaim loudly that we must encourage the open 
mind, and then by our witness-stand ordeal forestall 
the possibility of open-mindedness. 

Rational methods. — When we have learned wis- 
dom enough, and humanity enough, and pedagogy 
enough to dispense with the quasi-inquisition type 
of recitation, the transition to a more rational method 
of examination will be well-nigh automatic. Let 
it not be inferred that to inveigh against the ques- 
tion-and-answer type of recitation is to advocate 
any abatement of thoroughness. On the contrary, 
the thought is to insure greater thoroughness, and 
to make evident the patent truth that thoroughness 
and agreeableness are not incompatible. Experi- 
ence ought to teach us that we find it no hardship 
to work with supreme intensity at any task that 
lures us; and, in that respect, we are but grown- 
up children. We have only to generate a white- 
heat of interest in order to have our pupils work with 
intensity. But this sort of interest does not thrive 
under compulsion. 



EXAMINATIONS 293 

Analysis and synthesis. — The question-and-an- 
swer method evermore implies analysis. But chil- 
dren are inclined to synthesis, which shows at once 
that the analytic method runs counter to their natu- 
ral bent. They like to make things, to put things 
together, to experiment along the lines of synthesis. 
Hence the industrial arts appeal to them. But 
constructing problems satisfies their inclination to 
synthesis quite as well as constructing coat-hangers 
or culinary compounds, if only the incitement is 
rational. The writers of our text-books are coining 
to recognize this fact, and it does them credit. In 
time, we may hope to have books that will take 
into account the child's natural inclinations, and the 
schools will be the beneficiaries. 

Thinking. — In the process of synthesis the pupil 
is free to draw upon the entire stock of his accumu- 
lated resources, whereas in the question-and-answer 
method he is circumscribed. In the question-and- 
answer plan he is encouraged to remember; in the 
other he is encouraged to think. In our theories 
we exalt thinking to the highest pinnacle, but in our 
practice we repress thinking and exalt memory. We 
admonish our pupils to think, sometimes with a 
degree of emphasis that weakens our admonition, 



294 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

and then bestow our laurel wreaths upon those who 
think little but remember much. Our inconsistency 
in this respect would be amusing if the child's inter- 
ests could be ignored. But seeing that the child 
pays the penalty, our inconsistency is inexcusable. 

Penalizing. — The question-and-answer regime, in 
its full application, is not wholly unlike a punitive 
expedition, in that the teacher asks the question 
and sits with pencil poised in air ready to blacklist 
the unfortunate pupil whose memory fails him for 
the moment. The child is embarrassed, if not 
panic-stricken, and the teacher seems more like an 
avenging nemesis than a friend and helper. Just 
when he needs help he receives epithets and a con- 
demning zero. He sinks into himself, disgusted 
and outraged, and becomes wholly indifferent to 
the subsequent phases of the lesson. He feels that 
he has been trapped and betrayed, and days are 
required for his redemption from discouragement. 

Traditional method. — In the school where this 
method is in vogue the examination takes on the 
color and character of the recitation. At the close 
of the term, or semester, the teacher makes out the 
proverbial ten questions which very often reflect her 
own bias, or predilections, and in these ten ques- 



EXAMINATIONS 295 

tions are the issues of life and death. A hundred 
questions might be asked upon the subjects upon 
which the pupils are to be tested, but these ten are 
the only ones offered — with no options. Then 
the grading of the papers ensues, and, in this ordeal, 
the teacher thinks herself another Atlas carrying the 
world upon her shoulders. The boy who receives 
sixty-seven and the one who receives twenty-seven 
are both banished into outer darkness without re- 
course. The teacher may know that the former 
boy is able to do the work of the next grade, but the 
marks she has made on the paper are sacred things, 
and he has fallen below the requisite seventy. 
Hence, he is banished to the limbo of the lost, for 
she is the supreme arbiter of his fate. 

No allowance is made for nervousness, illness, 
or temperamental conditions, but the same measur- 
ing-rod is applied to all with no discrimination, 
and she has the marks on the papers to prove her 
infallibility. If a pupil should dare to question 
the correctness of her grades, he would be punished 
or penalized for impertinence. Her grades are 
oracular, inviolable, and therefore not subject to 
review. She may have been quite able to grade 
the pupils justly without any such ordeal, but the 



296 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

school has the examination habit, and all the sacred 
rites must be observed. In that school there is but 
one way of salvation, and that way is not subject 
either to repeal or amendment. It is via sacra and 
must not be profaned. Time and long usage have 
set the seal of their approval upon it and woe betide 
the vandal who would dare tamper with it. 

Testing for intelligence. — This emphatic, albeit 
true, representation of the type of examinations that 
still obtains in some schools has been set out thus in 
some detail that we may have a basis of comparison 
with the other type of examinations that tests for 
intelligence rather than for memory. For children, 
not unlike their elders, are glad to have people 
proceed upon the assumption that they are endowed 
with a modicum of intelligence. They will strive 
earnestly to meet the expectations of their parents 
and teachers. Many wise mothers and teachers 
have incited children to their best efforts by giving 
them to know that much is expected of them. It 
is always far better to expect rather than to demand. 
Coercion may be necessary at times, but coercion 
frowns while expectation smiles. Hence, in every 
school exercise the teacher does well to concede to 
the pupils a reasonable degree of intelligence and 



EXAMINATIONS 297 

then let her expectations be commensurate with 
their intelligence. 

Concessions. — It is an affront to the intelligence 
of a child not to concede that he knows that the 
days are longer in the summer than in winter. We 
may fully expect such a degree of intelligence, and 
base our teaching upon this assumption. In our 
examinations we pay a delicate compliment to the 
child by giving him occasion for thinking. We may 
ask him why the days are longer in summer than in 
winter and thus give him the feeling that we respect 
his intelligence. Our examinations may always 
assume observed facts. Even if he has never 
noted the fact that his shadow is shorter in summer 
than in winter, if we assume such knowledge on his 
part and ask him why such is the case, we shall 
stimulate his powers of observation along with his 
thinking. If the teacher asks a boy when and by 
whom America was discovered, he resents the im- 
plication of crass ignorance ; but if she asks how 
Columbus came to discover America in 1492, he feels 
that it is conceded that there are some things he 
knows. 

Illustrations. — If we ask for the width of the 
zones, we are placing the emphasis upon memory ; 



298 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

but, if we ask them to account for the width of the 
zones, we are assuming some knowledge and are 
testing for intelligent thinking. If we ask why the 
sun rises in the east and sets in the west we are, once 
again, assuming a knowledge of the facts and test- 
ing for intelligence. If we ask for the location of the 
Suez, Kiel, and Welland canals, we are testing for 
mere memory ; but, if we ask what useful purpose 
these canals serve, we are testing for intelligence. 
When we ask pupils to give the rule for division of 
fractions, we are testing again for mere memory ; 
but when we ask why we invert the terms of the 
divisor, we are treating our pupils as rational beings. 
Our pedagogical sins bulk large in geography when 
we continually ask pupils to locate places that have 
no interest for them. Such teaching is a travesty 
on pedagogy and a sin against childhood. 

Intelligence of teacher. — If the teacher is con- 
sulting her own ease and comfort, then she will 
conduct the examination as a test for memory. It 
requires but little work and less thinking to formu- 
late a set of examination questions on this basis. 
She has only to turn the pages of the text-book and 
make a check-mark here and there till she has ac- 
cumulated ten questions, and the trick is done. 



EXAMINATIONS 299 

But if she is testing for intelligence, the matter is 
not so simple. To test for intelligence requires 
intelligence and a careful thinking over the whole 
scope of the subject under consideration. To do 
this effectively the teacher must keep within the 
range of the pupil's powers and still stimulate him 
to his best efforts. 

Major and minor. — She must distinguish be- 
tween major and minor, and this is no slight 
task. Her own bias may tend to elevate a minor 
into a major rank, and this disturbs the balance. 
Again, she must see things in their right relations and 
proportions, and this requires deliberate thinking. 
In " King Lear" she may regard the Fool as a negli- 
gible minor, but some pupil may have discovered 
that Shakespeare intended this character to serve 
a great dramatic purpose, and the teacher suffers 
humiliation before her class. If she were testing 
for memory, she would ask the class to name ten 
characters of the play and like hackneyed ques- 
tions, so that her own intelligence would not be put 
to the test. Accurate scholarship and broad general 
intelligence may be combined in the same person 
and, certainly, we are striving to inculcate and 
foster these qualities in our pupils. 



300 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

Books of questions and answers. — When the 
examinations for teachers shall become tests for 
intelligence and not for memory, we may fully 
expect to find the same principle filtering into our 
school practices. It is a sad travesty upon educa- 
tion that teachers, even in this enlightened age, still 
try to prepare for examinations by committing to 
memory questions and answers from some book or 
educational paper. But the fault lies not so much 
with the teachers themselves as with those who 
prepare the questions. The teachers have been 
led to believe that to be able to recall memorized 
facts is education. There are those, of course, who 
will commercialize this misconception of education 
by publishing books of questions and answers. Of 
course weak teachers will purchase these books, 
thinking them a passport into the promised land. 

The reform must come at the source of the ques- 
tions that constitute the examination. When ex- 
aminers have grown broad enough in their concep- 
tion of education to construct questions that will 
test for intelligence, we shall soon be rid of such 
an incubus upon educational progress as a book 
of questions and answers. The field is wide and 
alluring. History, literature, the sciences, and the 



EXAMINATIONS 301 

languages are rich in material that can be used 
in testing for intelligence, and we need not resort to 
petty chit-chat in preparing for examinations. 

The way of reform. — We must take this broader 
view of the whole subject of examinations before 
we can hope to emerge from our beclouded and 
restricted conceptions of education. And it can be 
done, as we know from the fact that it is being done. 
Here and there we find superintendents, principals, 
and teachers who are shuddering away from the 
question-and-answer method both in the recita- 
tion and in the examination. They have outgrown 
the swaddling-clothes and have risen to the estate 
of broad-minded, intelligent manhood and woman- 
hood. They have enlarged their concept of edu- 
cation and have become too generous in their im- 
pulses to subject either teachers or pupils to an ordeal 
that is a drag upon their mental and spiritual free- 
dom. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. What purposes are actually achieved by examinations? 

2. What evils necessarily accompany examinations ? What 
evils usually accompany them ? 

3. Outline a plan by which these purposes may be achieved 
unaccompanied by the usual evils. 



302 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

4. Is memory of facts the best test of knowledge ? Suggest 
other tests by which the value of a pupil's knowledge may be 
judged. 

5. Experts sometimes vary more than 70 per cent in grading 
the same manuscript. The same person often varies 20 per cent 
or more in grading the same manuscript at different times. 
An experiment with your own grading might prove interesting. 

6. Do you and your pupils in actual practice regard exami- 
nations as an end or as a means to an end ? As corroborating 
evidence or as a final proof of competence ? 

7. How may examinations test intelligence ? 

8. Suggest methods by which pupils may be led to dis- 
tinguish major from minor and to see things in their right 
relations. 

9. Is it more desirable to have the pupils develop these 
powers or to memorize facts ? Why ? 

10. Why are "question and answer" publications antago- 
nistic to modern educational practice ? Why harmful to stu- 
dents ? 



CHAPTER XXIV 

WORLD-BUILDING 

An outline. — Education is the process of world- 
building. Every man builds his own world and is 
confined, throughout life, to the world which he 
himself builds. He cannot build for another, nor 
can another build for him. Neither can there be 
an exchange of worlds. Moreover, the process of 
building continues to the end of life. In building 
their respective worlds all men have access to the 
same materials, and the character of each man's 
world, then, is conditioned by his choice and use of 
these materials. If one man elects to build a small 
world for himself, he will find, at hand, an abundant 
supply of petty materials that he is free to use in its 
construction. But, if he elects to build a large 
world, the big things of life are his to use. If he 
chooses to spend his life in an ugly world, he will 
find ample materials for his purpose. If, however, 
he prefers a beautiful world, the materials will not 
be lacking, and he will have the joy and inspiration 

303 



304 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

that come from spending a lifetime amid things 
that are fraught with beauty. 

Exemplifications. — This conception of education 
is not a figment of fancy but a reality whose veri- 
fication can be attested by a thousand examples. 
We have only to look about us to see people who are 
living among things that are unbeautiful and who 
might be living in beautiful worlds had they elected 
to do so. Others are spending their lives among 
things that are trivial and inconsequential, appar- 
ently blind to the great and significant things that 
lie all about them. Some build their worlds with 
the minor materials, while others select the majors. 
Some select the husks, while others choose the grain. 
Some build their worlds from the materials that 
others disdain and seem not to realize the inferiority 
of their worlds as compared with others. Their 
supreme complacency in the midst of the ugliness 
or pettiness of their worlds seems to accentuate the 
conclusion that they have not been able to see, or 
else have not been able to use, the other materials 
that are available. 

Flowers. — To the man who would live in a beau- 
tiful world flowers will be a necessity. To such a 
man life would be robbed of some of its charm if his 



WORLD-BUILDING 305 

world should lack flowers. But unless he has sub- 
jective flowers he cannot have objective ones. He 
must have a sensory foundation that will react to 
flowers or there can be no flowers in his world. 
There may be flowers upon his breakfast table, but 
unless he has a sensory foundation that will react 
to them they will be nonexistent to him. He can 
react to the bacon, eggs, and potatoes, but not to 
the flowers, unless he has cultivated flowers in his 
spirit before coming to the table. 

Lily-of-the-valley civilization. — All the flowers 
that grow may adorn his world if he so elects. He 
may be content with dandelions and sunflowers 
if he so wills, or he may reach forth and gather 
about him for his delight the entire gamut of roses 
from the Maryland to the American Beauty, the 
violet and its college-bred descendant the pansy, 
the heliotrope, the gladiolus, the carnation, the 
primrose, the chrysanthemum, the sweet pea, the 
aster, and the orchid. But, if he can reach the high 
plane of the lily-of-the-valley, in all its daintiness, 
delicacy, chastity, and fragrance, he will have 
achieved distinction. When society shall have at- 
tained to the lily-of-the-valley plane, life will be 
fine, fragrant, and beautiful. Intemperance will 



306 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

be no more, and profanity, vulgarity, and coarse- 
ness will disappear. Such things cannot thrive 
in a lily-of-the-valley world, but shrink away from 
the presence of beauty and purity. 

Music. — Again, the man who is building such a 
world will elect to have music as one of the elements. 
But here, again, we find that he must have a sen- 
sory foundation or there will be no music for him. 
Moreover, the nature of this sensory foundation will 
determine the character of the music to be found in 
his world. He may be satisfied with " Tipperary " 
or he may yearn for Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Bee- 
thoven, Melba, and Schumann-Heink. He may not 
be able to rise above the plane of ragtime, or he 
may attain to the sublime plane of "The Dead March 
in Saul." He has access to all the music from the 
discordant hand organ to the oratorio and grand 
opera. In his introduction of a concert company, 
the chairman said : " Ladies and gentlemen, the 
artists who are to favor us this evening will render 
nothing but high-grade selections. If any of you 
are inclined to be critical and to say that their 
music is above your heads, I beg to remind you that 
it will not be above the place where your heads 
ought to be." In substance he was saying that the 



WORLD-BUILDING 307 

nature of the music depended not so much upon the 
singers as upon the sensory foundation of the audi- 
tors. 

Music and life. — Having a sensory foundation 
capable of reacting to the best music, this man opens 
wide the portals of his world for the reception of the 
orchestra, the concert, the opera, and the choir, 
and his spirit revels in the " concord of sweet 
sounds." Through the toil of the day he antici- 
pates the music of the evening, and the next day he 
goes to his work buoyant and rejuvenated by rea- 
son of the musical refreshment. He has music in 
anticipation and music in retrospect, and thus his 
world is regaled with harmony. His world cannot 
be a dead level or a desert, for it is diversified by the 
alluring undulations of music and made fertile by the 
perennial fountains of inspiring harmony, and his 

world 

" shall be filled with music 
And the cares that infest the day 
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, 
And as silently steal away." 

Children. — Again, this man elects to have chil- 
dren in his world, for he has come to know that 
there is no sweeter music on earth than the laughter 



308 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

of a child. Were he sojourning five hundred miles 
away from the abode of children he would soon be 
glad to walk the entire distance that he might again 
hear the prattle, the laughter, or even the crying of 
a child. Cowboys on the plains have been thrown 
into a frenzy of delight at the sight of a little child. 
Full well the man knows that, if he would have 
children in his world, he must find these children 
for himself; for this task may not be delegated. 
If he would bring Paul and Florence Dombey into 
his world, he must win them to himself by living with 
them throughout all the pages of the book. In 
order to lure Pollyanna into his world to imbue it 
with the spirit of gladness, he must establish a 
community of interests with her by imbibing her 
spirit as revealed in the book. 

Characterizations. — He may not have Little 
Joe in his world unless his spirit becomes attuned 
to the pathos of Bleak House. And he both wants 
and needs Little Joe. Echoing and reechoing 
through his soul each day are the words of the little 
chap, " He wuz good to me, he wuz," and acting 
vicariously for the little fellow he touches the lives 
of other unfortunates as the hours go by and brings 
to them sunshine and hope and courage. And he 



WORLD-BUILDING 309 

must needs have Tiny Tim, also, to banish the cob- 
webs from his soul with his fervent " God bless us 
every one." The day cannot go far wrong with 
this simple prayer clinging in his memory. It per- 
meates the perplexities of the day, gives resiliency 
to his spirit, and encourages and reenforces all the 
noble impulses that come into his consciousness. 
Wherever he goes and whatever he is doing he feels 
that Tiny Tim is present to bestow his childish 
benediction. 

Lessons from childhood. — In Laddie he finds 
a whole family of children to his liking and feels 
that his world is the better for their presence. To 
Old Curiosity Shop and Silas Marner he goes and 
brings thence Little Nell and Eppie, feeling that in 
their boon companionship they will make his world 
more attractive to himself and others by their gentle 
graces of kindness and helpfulness. In his quest 
for children of the right sort he lingers long with 
Dickens, the apostle and benefactor of childhood, 
but passes by the colored supplement. For all 
the children in his world he would have the approval 
and blessing of the Master. He would know, when 
he hears the words " Except ye become as little 
children," that reference is made to such children 



310 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

as he has about him. At the feet of these children 
he sits and learns the lessons of sincerity, guileless- 
ness, simplicity, and faith, and through their eyes 
he sees life glorified. 

Stars. — Nor must his world lack stars. He 
needs these to draw his thoughts away from sordid 
things out into the far spaces. He would not spend 
a lifetime thinking of nothing beyond the weather, 
the ball-score, his clothes, and his ailments. He 
wants to think big thoughts, and he would have 
stars to guide him. He knows that a man is as 
high, as broad, and as deep as his thoughts, and that 
if he would grow big in his thinking he must have 
big objects to engage his thoughts. He would ex- 
plore the infinite spaces, commune with the planets 
in their courses, attain the sublime heights where 
the masters have wrought, and discover, if pos- 
sible, the sources of power, genius, and inspiration. 
He would find delight in the colors of the rainbow, 
the glory of the morning, and the iridescence of the 
dewdrop. He would train his thoughts to scan the 
spaces behind the clouds, to transcend the snow- 
capped mountain, and to penetrate the depths of 
the sea. He would visualize creation, evolution, 
and the intricate processes of life. So he must have 
stars in his world. 



WORLD-BUILDING 31 1 

Books. — In addition to all these he must have 
books in his world, and he is cognizant of the fact 
that his neighbors judge both himself and his world 
by the character of the books he selects. He may 
select Mrs. Wiggs or Les Miserables. If he elects 
to have about him books of the cabbage patch 
variety, he condemns himself to that sort of reading 
for a whole lifetime. Nor is any redemption pos- 
sible from such standards save by his own efforts. 
Neither men nor angels can draw him up to the plane 
of Victor Hugo if he elects to abide in the cabbage 
patch. If he prefers Graustark to Macbeth, all 
people, including his dearest friends, will go on their 
way and leave him to his choice. If he says he can- 
not read Shakespeare, Massinger, Milton, or Words- 
worth, he does no violence to the reputation of these 
writers, but merely defines and classifies himself. 

Authors as companions. — Having learned or 
sensed these distinctions, he elects to consort with 
Burns, Keats, Shelley, Southey, Homer, Dante, 
Virgil, Hawthorne, Scott, Maupassant, Goethe, 
Schiller, and George Eliot. In such society he never 
has occasion to explain or apologize for his compan- 
ions. He reads their books in the open and gains a 
feeling of elation and exaltation. When he would 



312 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

see life in the large, he sits before the picture of Jean 
Valjean. When he would see integrity and fidelity 
in spite of suffering, he sits before the portrait of 
Job. When he would see men of heroic size, he has 
the characters of Homer file by. If he would see 
the panorama of the emotions of the human soul, 
he selects Hugo as his guide. If he would laugh, he 
reads Tarn O'Shanter ; if he would weep, he reads 
of the death of Little Nell. If he would see real 
heroism, he follows Sidney Carton to the scaffold, 
or Esther into the presence of the King. He goes 
to Shelley's Skylark to find beauty, Burns's High- 
land Mary to find tenderness, Hawthorne's Scarlet 
Letter to find tragedy, and the Book of Job to find 
sublimity. Through his books he comes to know 
Quasimodo and Sir Galahad ; Becky Sharp and 
Penelope ; Aaron Burr and Enoch Arden ; and 
Herodias and Florence Nightingale. 

People. — But his world would be incomplete 
without people, and here, again, he is free to choose. 
And, since he wants people in his world who will be 
constant reminders to him of qualities that he him- 
self would cultivate, he selects Ruth and Jephthah's 
daughter to represent fidelity. When temptation 
assails him he finds them ready to lead him back 



WORLD-BUILDING 313 

and up to the plane of high resolves. To remind 
him of indomitable courage and perseverance he 
selects William the Silent, Christopher Columbus, 
and Moses. When his courage is waning and he 
is becoming flaccid and indolent, their very presence 
is a rebuke, and a survey of their achievements 
restores him to himself. As examples of patriotic 
thinking and action he invites into his world Samuel 
Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. 
They remind him that he is a product of the past and 
that it devolves upon him to pass on to posterity 
without spot or blemish the heritage that has come 
to him through the patriotic service and sacrifice 
of his progenitors. 

Influence of people. — That he may never lose 
sight of the fact that it is cowardly and degrading 
to recede from high ideals he opens the doors of his 
world for Milton, Beethoven, and Michael Angelo. 
Their superb achievements, considered in connec- 
tion with their afflictions and hardships, are a source 
of inspiration to him and keep him up to his best. 
As a token of his appreciation of these exemplars he 
strives to excel himself, thus proving himself a 
worthy disciple. They need not chide him, for in 
their presence he cannot do otherwise than hold 



314 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

fast to his ideals and struggle upward with a cour- 
age born of inspiration. Living among such goodly 
people, he finds his world resplendent with the 
virtues that prove a halo to life. With such 
people about him he can be neither lonely nor 
despondent. If the cares of life fret him for the 
moment, he takes counsel with them and his equi- 
librium is restored. In their company he finds life 
a joyous experience, for their very presence exhales 
the qualities that make life worth while. 

As an inevitable result of all the influences that 
constitute his world he finds himself yearning for 
meliorism as the crownpiece. Drinking from the 
fount of inspiration that gushes forth at the behest 
of all these wholesome influences, he longs for better- 
ment. Good as he finds the things about him, he 
feels that they are not yet good enough. So he 
becomes the eloquent apostle of meliorism, proclaim- 
ing his gospel without abatement. The roads are 
not good enough, and he would have better ones. 
Our houses are not good enough, and he would have 
people design and build better ones. Our music 
is not good enough as yet, and he would encourage 
men and women to write better. Our books are 
not good enough, and he would incite people to 



WORLD-BUILDING 315 

write better ones. Our conduct of civic affairs is 
not good enough, and he would stimulate society to 
strive for civic betterment. Our municipal govern- 
ment is not good enough, and he proclaims the need 
to make improvement. Our national government is 
not all that it might be, and he would have all people 
join in a benevolent conspiracy to make it better. 

Influence of the school. — Thus day by day this 
man continues the building of a world for himself. 
And day by day he strives to make his world better, 
not only as an abiding place for himself but also as 
an example for others. In short, this man is a 
product of the vitalized school, and is weaving into 
the pattern of his life the teachings of the school. 
In exuberance of spirit and in fervent gratitude he 
looks back to the school that taught him to know that 
education is the process of world-building. And 
to the school he gives the credit for the large and 
beautiful world in which he lives. 

Questions and Exercises 

1 . Show how the world that one builds depends upon one's 
own choosing. 

2. Do people seem to realize this truth when they do not 
build their world as they might? If pupils fail to realize it, 
what can the teacher do to help them ? 



316 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

3. Suppose a pupil is interested in petty things ; the school 
must utilize his interests. How can this be done? How can 
he be led to larger aims? 

4. To what extent does the richness of our lives depend on 
the way we react to stimuli ? 

5. Explain how each of the influences alluded to in this 
chapter helps the teacher. 

6. Why does the character of the books one reads most 
serve as an index of one's own character? 

7. What do you think of a person who prefers new books ? 

8. What do you think of one who prefers sensational books ? 

9. Why is it especially important for a teacher to be thor- 
oughly acquainted with the great characters of history ? 

10. Does acquaintance with the great in history tend to 
produce merely a good static character, or does it do more ? 



CHAPTER XXV 

A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 

The school an expression of the teacher. — The 
vitalized school may be a school of one room or of 
forty rooms ; it may be in the city, in the village, 
in the hamlet, or in the heart of the country ; it 
may be a kindergarten, a grade school, a high school, 
or a college. The size or the location of the school 
does not determine its vital quality. This, on the 
contrary, is determined by the character of its work 
and the spirit that obtains. In general it may be 
said that the vitalized teacher renders the school 
vital. This places upon her a large measure of 
responsibility, but she accepts it with equanimity, 
and rejoices in the opportunity to test out her 
powers. It needs to be oft repeated that if the 
teacher is static, the school will be static ; but if 
the teacher is dynamic, the school will be dynamic. 
The teacher can neither delegate, abrogate, abate, 
nor abridge her responsibility. The school is either 
vitalized or it is not, according to what the teacher 

317 



318 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

is and does, and what the teacher does depends 
upon what she is. In short, the school is an expres- 
sion of the teacher, and, if the school is not vitalized, 
the reason is not far to seek. 

A centralized school. — For the purpose of illus- 
tration we may assume that the typical vitalized 
school is located in the country, and is what is known 
as a centralized school. The grounds comprise 
about ten acres, and the building contains, all told, 
not fewer than twenty rooms, large and small. 
This building was designed by a student of school 
problems, and is not merely a theory of the archi- 
tect. Each room, and each detail, articulates with 
every other room in harmony with a general scheme 
of which the child and his interests are the prime 
considerations. The well-being of the child takes 
precedence over the reputation of the architect. 
Every nook of the building has its specific function, 
and this function has vital reference to the child. 
The location of each piece of furniture can be ex- 
plained from the viewpoint of the child, and the 
architectural scheme is considered subsidiary. The 
seats conform to the child, and not the reverse. The 
scheme of lighting concerns itself with the child's 
welfare rather than with the external appearance. 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 319 

Integrity in construction and decoration. — The 
decorations throughout the building are all chaste 
and artistic. Nothing below this standard can 
win admission. No picture is admitted that does 
not represent art. The theory is that the school 
has a reflex influence upon the homes that attracts 
them to its standards, and experience reveals the 
fact that the decorations in the homes are constantly 
rising in artistic tone. The standards of the school 
become the standards of the pupils, and the pupils, 
in turn, modify and improve the standards of the 
homes. There is a degree of simplicity and dignity 
throughout the building that banishes from the 
homes the ornate and the bizarre. There is integ- 
rity in every detail of construction, and the absence 
of veneer gives to the pupils a definition of honesty 
and sincerity. There is nothing either in the build- 
ing or in the work of the school that savors of the 
show element. The teachers of history and mathe- 
matics cannot display the products of their teaching 
and, therefore, there is no display of her products 
by the teacher of drawing. This school believes 
in education but not in exhibition. Words of com- 
mendation may be dispensed in the classrooms, 
but there is no exhibit of any department in the 



320 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

halls. The teachers are too polite and too con- 
siderate to sanction any such display. 

Simplicity and sincerity. — The library is notable 
for the character of the books, but not for the num- 
ber. The teachers and pupils are too genuine ever 
to become thrasonical, and no teacher or pupil is 
ever heard to boast of anything pertaining to the 
school. They neither boast nor apologize, but leave 
every visitor free to make his own appraisement of 
their school and its belongings. The teachers are 
too truly cultured and the pupils are too well trained 
ever to exploit themselves, their school, or their 
work. The pictures, the statuary, the fittings, and 
the equipment are all of the best, and, hence, show 
for themselves without exploitation. To teachers 
and pupils it would seem a mark of ill-breeding to 
expatiate upon their own things. Such a thing is 
simply not done in this school. The auditorium 
is a stately, commodious, and beautiful room, and 
everybody connected with the school accepts it as a 
matter of course with no boastful comment. Any- 
thing approaching braggadocio would prove a dis- 
cordant note in this school, and, in this respect, it 
represents the American ideal that is to be. 

Rooms are phases of life. — The home economics 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 321 

room, the industrial arts room, the laboratories, 
the dining room, the rest rooms, and the hospital 
room are all supplied with suitable fittings and 
equipment and all represent phases of life. At 
luncheon each pupil is served a bowl of soup or other 
hot dish to supplement his own private lunch, and 
this food is supplied at public expense. The school 
authorities have the wisdom to realize that health 
is an asset of the community and is fundamental in 
effective school work. The pupils serve their school- 
mates in relays, wash the dishes, and restore them 
to their places. The boys do not think they demean 
themselves by such service, but enter into it in the 
true spirit of democracy. A teacher is present to 
modify and chasten the hurry and heedlessness of 
childhood, and there is decorum without apparent 
repression. 

Industrial work. — In connection with the industrial 
arts department there is a repair shop where all the 
implements that are used in caring for the school 
farm, gardens, orchards, and lawns are kept in re- 
pair. Here the auto trucks in which the pupils 
are brought to the school are repaired by the drivers, 
assisted by the boys. In this shop the boys gain 
the practical knowledge that enables them to keep 



322 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

in repair the tools and machinery, including automo- 
biles, at their homes. The farmers who have no 
sons in school avail themselves of the skill and 
fidelity that obtain in the shop, bringing in their 
tools, their harness, and their automobiles for needed 
repairs. The money thus earned is expended for 
school equipment. The products of the orchards, 
farm, and garden are the property of the school and 
are all preserved for use in the home economics 
department for school lunches. The man in charge 
of the farm is employed by the year and is a member 
of the teaching staff. The farm, gardens, orchard, 
and lawn are integral parts of the school, and per- 
form the functions of laboratories. 

School a life enterprise. — There are all grades 
in the school, from the kindergarten through the 
high school. There is but slight disparity in the 
size of the classes, for the parents instinctively set 
apart thirteen years of the time of their children 
for life in the school. To these parents school 
and life are synonymous, and when a child enters 
the kindergarten he enlists in the enterprise for a 
term of thirteen years. The homes as well as the 
school are arranged on this basis, and this plan of 
procedure is ingrained in the social consciousness. 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 323 

Deserting the school is no more thought of than any 
other form of suicide. If, by any chance, a boy 
should desert the school, he would be a pariah in 
that community and could not live among the people 
in any degree of comfort. He would be made to 
feel that he had debased himself and cast aspersion 
upon society. The looks that the people would 
bestow upon him would sting more than flagellation. 
He would be made to feel that he had expatriated 
himself, and neither himself nor his parents would 
be in good standing in the community. They 
would be made to feel that their conduct was noth- 
ing short of sacrilege. 

Public sentiment. — In view of the school senti- 
ment that obtains in the community the eighth 
grade is practically as populous as the first grade. 
Attendance upon school work is a habit of thinking 
both with the children and with their parents, and 
school is taken for granted the same as eating and 
sleeping. If a boy should, for any cause, fail to 
graduate from the high school, every patron of the 
school would regard it as a personal calamity. 
They would feel that he had, somehow, been dropped 
off the train before he reached his destination, and 
the whole community would be inclined to wear 



324 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

badges of mourning. Every parent is vitally inter- 
ested in each child of the community, whether he 
has children in school or not, and thus school taxes 
are paid with pride and elation. The school is 
regarded as a safe investment that pays large divi- 
dends. Patrons rally to the calls of the school 
with rare unanimity and heartiness. Differences 
in politics and religion evaporate in their school, 
for the school is the high plane upon which they 
meet in fraternal concord. 

The course of study. — The course of study is 
flexible, and because of its resiliency it adapts itself 
easily and gracefully to the native dispositions and 
the aptitudes of the various pupils. If the boy 
has a penchant for agriculture, provision is made 
for him, both in the theory and in the practical 
applications of the subject. If he inclines to science, 
the laboratories accord him a gracious welcome. 
The studies are adapted to the boy and not the 
boy to the studies. No boy need discontinue 
school to find on the outside something that is con- 
genial, for, within the school, he may find work that 
represents life in all its phases. If he yearns for 
horticulture, then this study is made his major and, 
all in good time, he is made foreman of the group 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 325 

who care for the gardens. If the course of study 
lacks the element which he craves and for which he 
has a natural aptitude, this branch is added to the 
course. The economy of life demands the conserva- 
tion of childhood and youth and the school deems 
it the part of wisdom as well as civic and social 
economy to provide special instruction for this boy, 
as was done in the case of Helen Keller. This 
school, in theory and in practice, is firm in its oppo- 
sition to wasting boys and girls. Hence, ample 
provision is made for the child of unusual inclina- 
tions. 

Electives. — The pupils do not elect a study 
because it is easy, but because their inclinations run 
in that direction. Indeed, there are no easy courses, 
no snap courses in the school. Diligent, careful, 
thorough work is the rule, and there can be found 
no semblance of approval for loafing or dawdling. 
The school stands for purposes that are clear in 
definition and for work that is intense. There are 
no prizes offered for excellent work, but the appro- 
bation of parents, teachers, and schoolmates, in the 
estimation of the pupils, far transcends any material 
or symbolic prizes that could be offered. In school 
work and in conduct the pupils all strive to win this 



326 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

approval. There is no coarseness nor boorishness, 
for that would forfeit this approval. The cigarette 
is under ban, for public sentiment is against it; 
and, after all, public sentiment is the final arbiter 
of conduct. Hence, no boy will demean himself 
by flying in the face of public sentiment through 
indulging in any practice that this sentiment pro- 
claims unclean or enervating. 

The school the focus of community life. — This 
school is the focus of the community. Hither come 
the patrons for music, for lectures, for art, for books 
and magazines, for social stimulus, and, in short, 
for all the elements of their avocational life. Indeed, 
in educational matters, the community is a big 
wholesome family and the school is the shrine about 
which they assemble for educational and cultural 
communion. It is quite a common practice for 
mothers to sit in the classrooms engaged in knitting 
or sewing while their children are busy with their 
lessons. For, in their conception of life, geography 
and sewing are coordinate elements, and so blend 
in perfect harmony in the school regime. At the 
luncheon period these mothers go to the dining 
room with their children in the same spirit of co- 
operation that gives distinction to the school and 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 327 

to the community. There is an interflow of interests 
between the school and the homes that makes for 
unity of purpose and practice. There is freedom 
in the school but not license. People move about 
in a natural way but with delicate consideration 
for the rights and sentiments of others. The at- 
mosphere of the school interdicts rudeness. There 
is a quiet dignity, serenity, and intensity, with no 
abatement of freedom. In this school it is not 
good form for a boy to be less than a gentleman or 
for a girl to be less than a lady. 

The teachers. — The atmosphere in which the 
pupils live is, mainly, an exhalation from the spirit 
of the teachers. They live and work together in a 
delightful spirit of concord and cooperation. They 
are magnanimous and would refuse to be a part of 
any life that would decline from this high plane. 
In this corps there are no hysterics, no heroics, no 
strain, no stress. They are, first of all, successful 
human beings ; and their expert teaching is an 
expression of their human qualities. Their teach- 
ing is borne along on the tones of conversation. 
They know that well-modulated tones of voice con- 
tribute to the culture and well-being of the school. 
Should a teacher ever indulge in screeching, nagging, 



328 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

hectoring, badgering, or sarcasm, she would find 
herself ostracized. Such things are simply not done 
in this school. Hence, she would soon realize that 
this school is no place for her and would voluntarily 
resign. The school is simply above and beyond her 
kind. 

Unity of purpose. — Among the teachers there 
are no jealousies, because each one is striving to exalt 
the others. They are so generous in their impulses, 
and have such exalted conceptions of life, that they 
incline to catalogue their colleagues among the very 
elect. The teacher in the high school and the teacher 
in the primary grade hold frequent conversations 
concerning each other's work, and no teacher ever 
loses interest in the pupils when they advance to 
the next grade. To such teachers, education is 
not parceled out in terms of years but is a continuous 
process, even as life itself. They use the text-book 
merely as a convenience, but never as a necessity. 
If all the text-books in the school should be de- 
stroyed overnight, the work would proceed as usual 
the next day, barring mere inconvenience. They 
respect themselves and others too highly ever to 
assume a patronizing air toward their pupils. 
On the contrary, they treat them as coordinates 



A TYPICAL VITALIZED SCHOOL 329 

and confederates in the noble and exhilarating game 
of life. 

The vitalized school. — They have due regard to 
their personal appearance, but, once they have 
decided for the day, they dismiss the matter from 
their thinking and devote their attention to major 
considerations. Neither in dress, in manner, nor 
in conversation do they ever bring into the school a 
discordant note. School hours are not a detached 
portion of life but, rather, an integral part of life, 
and to them life is quite as agreeable during these 
hours as before and after. Such as they cannot do 
otherwise than render the school vital. And when 
such teachers and patrons as these join in such a 
benevolent conspiracy, then shall we realize not only 
a typical school but the vitalized school. 

Questions and Exercises 

1. Upon what does the vitalization of a school mainly 
depend? Upon what else does it depend in part? 

2. What suggestion is made in this chapter in regard to 
the planning of school buildings ? 

3. Why should care be taken in choosing the decorations 
of a school ? 

4. Why is it unwise for teacher or pupils to boast of the 
achievements of the school ? 



330 THE VITALIZED SCHOOL 

5. Why has the question of school lunches gained so much 
prominence recently ? 

6. How should the industrial work in a school be linked 
with that in the community ? 

7. Why are there fewer students in the higher than in the 
lower grades of most schools ? Make a careful analysis of the 
situation in this respect in your school. 

8. Why is it a calamity to a community for a boy to fail 
to graduate from the high school? 

9. What may be done to prevent a child going outside the 
school to find something congenial? 

10. What should be a student's motive in choosing a course ? 

11. How do you make your school a center for community 
life ? How can you make it more of a center than it is ? 

12. How is the spirit of jealousy among teachers injurious 
to our school system? What usually makes one teacher dis- 
parage the work of another ? 

13. What is essential in vitalizing a school ? 



INDEX 



Absorbing standards, 160. 

Acquisitiveness, 52. 

Advantages of socialized recitation, 
178. 

Agriculture ; a typical study, 192 ; 
its rapid development, 193 ; rela- 
tion to geology, 194 ; the source 
of life, 202. 

Altruism, 124. 

Ambition, 226. 

American restaurants, 86. 

American story, 231. 

Analysis and synthesis, 293. 

Anarchy, 73. 

Ancestor, child as a future, 34. 

Ancestors, attitude of, 31. 

Answers, repetition of, 139. 

Antecedent causes, 261. 

Art, 197, 268 ; teaching as an, 143. 

Aspiration, 224 ; and worship, 149. 

Aspirations, 59. 

Attitude of teacher, 11, 272. 

Attitude towards work, 148. 

Authors, 311. 

Automobile, 105 ; factory, 47. 

Beauty, desire for pastoral, 58. 
Behavior, amplified, 265 ; in history, 

267 ; in retrospect, 259 ; scope of, 

256. 
Betterment, 244. 
Body subject to the mind, 120. 
Books, 311; as exponents of life, 14; 

of questions and answers, 300; of 

life, 228 ; supreme, 252. 
Botany, importance of, 195. 
Boy, story of a, 236. 
Bread, 200. 



Centralized school, 318. 

Characterizations, 308. 

Child ; as a future ancestor, 34 ; as a 
whole, 250; as the objective, 200; 
and teacher, quest of, 104 ; as the 
center in school procedure, 18; 
imagination of, 26 ; supreme, 252 ; 
right to express himself, 25; play 
instinct of, 24 ; relation of to school 
work, 27 ; life, 21 ; rights of, 20. 

Child's; conception of truth, 109; 
conception, 103; need of ideals, 
169 ; viewpoint of teacher, 168 ; 
experiences, 27; native tendencies, 
24 ; right to the best, 23 ; native 
interests, 255 ; imagination, 236. 

Childhood curtailed, 22. 

Children, 307; parental attitude 
towards, 19; common interests, 
216; should have school privileges, 
19; real interests, 217; vs. sta- 
tistics, 247. 

Cigarettes, 117. 

Circus day, 118. 

Civilization, 305. 

Clean living, 37. 

College influences, 11. 

Columbus, voyage of, 152. 

Commerce, 55. 

Common from commonplace, 151. 

Comparison of life and living, 1. 

Comparison of two teachers, 129. 

Complacency of teacher, 135. 

Complete living defined, 112. 

Complexity of life, 4. 

Concepts restricted, 262, 279. 

Concessions, 297. 

Conclusion, 272. 



331 



332 



INDEX 



Conduct of teacher, 171. 
Conflict, 65. 
Conservation, 245. 
Contrasted methods, 44. 
Contrasts, 278. 
Cooperation, 75. 
Course of study, 324. 
Court procedure, 291. 
Curtailment of childhood, 22. 

Definition; of complete living, 112; 

of poetry, 222; of politician, 40; 

of socialized recitation, 176; of 

teaching, 2. 
Degrees and human qualities, 248. 
Democracy; foreign concept of, 66; 

the vitalized school a, 69. 
Democratic spirit, manifestations of, 

71. 
Democratic teacher, 75. 
Desire is fundamental, 60. 
Desires for things intangible, 53. 
Domestic science, 199. 
Dynamic qualities, 146. 

Economic articulation, 59. 

Education, 101, 303; and substitu- 
tion, 43; by absorption, 160; 
schools of, 246; unconsciously 
gained, 164. 

Efficiency, 80. 

Electives, 325. 

English, teacher of, 239. 

Enthusiasm, element of, 150. 

Environment, 259. 

Etymology, 106. 

Examinations, 288 ; traditional 
method, 294; testing for intelli- 
gence, 296; way of reform, 301. 

Expertness, appraisal of teaching, 131. 

Faith, 203, 227. 

Filtration plant and a vitalized school, 

206. 
Flowers, 304. 
Food and life, 201. 
Foreign concept of democracy, 66. 



Formalities, meaningless, 128. 
Freedom, 120, 275 ; elements of, 283 ; 

real, 280. 
Function of the school, 70, 210. 

Gang element, 179. 

Generations, rights of the coming, 30. 

Girl and her elders, 237. 

Grammar, 212. 

Great Stone Face, 162. 

Habit, persistency of, 92. 

History, 79, 254, 270, 278; behavior 

in, 267; meaning of, 14. 
Home and the school, 255. 
Hospitals cited, 32. 
House of Parliament, 55. 
Human interest, 155. 
Human qualities, degrees of, 248. 
Humor, 232 ; betokens deep feeling, 

239; defies explanation, 242; lack 

of, 235; of Lincoln, 238. 

Ideal; of the school, 215; r61e of, 

166. 
Idealist, 49. 

Ideals, a perpetual influence, 169. 
Imagination of children, 26, 236. 
Imitation, politician worthy of, 43. 
Incomplete living, 113. 
Individual, responsibility of the, 69. 
Industrial work, 321. 
Influence; of people, 313; of the 

school, 315; upon pupils, 185. 
Influences of college, 11. 
Initial statement, 100. 
Innate tendencies, 61. 
Intelligence of teacher, 298. 
Intensity, life measured by, 2. 
Interest in practice, 180. 
Interest, life the great human, 249. 

Joy in work of artist teacher, 145. 

Language, 211; a social study, 211; 
and vitality, 15. 



INDEX 



333 



Leadership, 42, 261. 

Learning democracy, 268. 

Lesson a prophecy, 263. 

Lessons from childhood, 309. 

Life ; and living compared, 1 ; and 
music, 307 ; and reading, 12 ; as 
subject matter in teaching, 6; 
books as exponents of, 14 ; book of, 
228 ; complexity of, 4 ; every sub- 
ject invested with, 155 ; how the 
poet learns, 223; in literature, 6; 
quality of, 219; manifestations of, 
5; measured by intensity, 2; sea 
as, 104; teachers' influx of, 228; 
the great human interest, 249 ; 
transfusion of, 224. 

Life and food, 201. 

Lincoln's humor, 238. 

Literature; life in, 6; pedagogy in, 
163. 

Long division ramified, 264. 

Machine teacher, 246. 

Machinery, 268. 

Major and minor, 299. 

Man, 285. 

Manifestations of life, 5. 

Mark Twain as a philosopher, 240. 

Mathematics vitalized, 10. 

Meanderings, 139. 

Melting pot, 67. 

Mental atrophy, 289. 

Methods, 292 ; contrasted, 44 ; po- 
tency of right, 132 ; of the politician, 
41. 

Michael Angelo, 108. 

Military training, 118. 

Minor and major, 299. 

Misconceptions, 35, 66. 

Misfits, 216. 

Mistakes, 214. 

Monuments, 58. 

Mulberry Bend, 83. 

Music, 306 ; and life, 307. 

Native land, 226. 
Needs of society, 212. 



Outlook, 264. 

Ownership, potency of, 181. 

Parental attitude towards children, 19. 

Parliament, House of, 55. 

Patriot, a typical, 82. 

Patriotism; a determining motive, 
78 ; as a working principle, 77 ; con- 
clusions, 89 ; in daily life, 85 ; thrift 
as, 87. 

Pedagogy in literature, 163. 

Penalizing, 294. 

People, 312 ; influence of, 313. 

Perseverance, 225. 

Personal efficiency, 115. 

Physical training, 116. 

Physics and Chemistry, 196. 

Physiology, 196. 

Poetry, 271 ; defined, 222. 

Poet learns life how, 223. 

Politician defined, 40; methods of, 
41; worthy of imitation, 43. 

Possibilities, 134. 

Potency of right methods, 132. 

Power of understanding, 13. 

Problem of the teacher, 98. 

Proprietary interests, 180. 

Public sentiment, 323. 

Pupil teacher, 177. 

Question stated, 127. 
Questions and answers, 290; books 
of, 300. 

Rational methods, 292. 
Reading and life, 12. 
Recitation, example of socialized, 187. 
Reflex influence, 184. 
Remembering and knowing, 290. 
Repeating answers, 139. 
Resourcefulness, 153. 
Responsibility of the school, 36. 
Restricted concepts, 262. 
Resultants, 183. 
Rights of the child, 20. 
Rome, 276. 
Rooms, 320. 



334 



INDEX 



Sanitation, 82. 

Scholar's concept of the sea, 102. 

School; and society, 46; and the 
home, 255 ; an expression of the 
teacher, 317; and factory com- 
pared, 130; a life enterprise, 322; 
function of the, 70; function of, 
210; ideal of the, 215; influence 
of, 315. 

Schoolhouse, 319; the community 
center, 326. 

Schools; of education, 246; responsi- 
bility of, 36; work of the, 110. 

Sciences, relation of, to life, 198. 

Sea; as life, 104; scholar's concept 
of, 102. 

Self-complacency, 289. 

Self-interest, 41. 

Self-reliance, 284. 

Self-respect, 286. 

Shakespeare, 269. 

Simplicity and sincerity, 320. 

Snobbery, 73. 

Social intercourse, 56. 

Social study, language a, 211. 

Socialized recitation; definition of, 
176; sample of, 187; exemplified 
in society, 182. 

Society ; and the school, 46 ; needs of, 
212. 

Sound body, 114. 

Spelling, 281 ; as patriotism, 77. 

Spirit, things of the, 123. 

Spiritual freedom, 275. 

Stars, 310. 

Statistics ca. children, 247. 

Stories, 233. 

Story of a boy, 236. 

Street signs, 121. 

Substitutions, results of, 48. 

Switchboard, 282. 

Synthesis and analysis, 293. 

Synthetic teaching, 203. 

Teacher, 165; and child, 104; as 
a machine, 246; as environment, 
162 ; attitude towards children, 254 ; 



conduct of, 171 ; characteristic 
qualities of, 144 ; intelligence of, 
298 ; growth of, 172 ; her supremacy, 
166; of English, 239; responsi- 
bility of, 159 ; rule of life, 171 ; see- 
ing life large, 172; school an ex- 
pression of, 317; skill of the, 256; 
status irrevocable, 168; volubility, 
136. 

Teachers, 327; attitude, 11, 170; 
complacency, 135; contrasted, 9; 
first type, 251 ; influx of life, 228 ; 
problem, 89; province, 7; other 
self, 167 ; three types of, 250. 

Teaching, 229; as a fine art, 143; 
defined, 2 ; test of, 137 ; life as sub- 
ject matter in, 6; power, 248. 

Temperance, 81. 

Tests of teaching, 137. 

Things of the spirit, 123. 

Thinking, 293. 

Thirteen colonies, 154. 

Three types of teachers, 250. 

Thrift as patriotism, 87. 

Time element, basic considerations, 
129. 

Time, waste of, 133. 

Tom Sawyer, 91. 

Trained minds, 122 ; achievements of, 
123. 

Transfusion of life, 224. 

Travel instinct, 57. 

Truth, child's conception of, 109. 

Twain story, 241. 

Two teachers compared, 129. 

Typical patriot, 82. 

Understanding, power of, 13. 
Unity of purpose, 328. 

Variety in excellence, 63. 

Vitalized mathematics, 10. 

Vitalized School, 329; a democracy, 
69; an exemplification of complete 
living, 113; filtration plant, 206. 

Voluble teacher, 136. 



INDEX 



335 



Waste of time, 133. 
Weaknesses transmitted, 30. 
Westminster Abbey, 54. 
Word automobile, 105. 
Word in use, 107. 



Work; a blessing, 96; as a privilege, 
92; and enjoyment, 97; of the 
school, 110; potency of mental, 
95; misconceptions of, 93. 

World-building, 303. 



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